REFEREE TACKLED USC QB ON PURPOSE DURING LSU GAME

Whenever your team loses in football, it’s easy to blame a lot of external factors. One of the usual suspects is often the officiating crew.

After a series a bad calls during last night’s 24-17 loss to defending national champs LSU, there’s no doubt that University of South Carolina fans had some reason to gripe about the referees’ performance. But a video on YouTube today showed that the refs didn’t just hurt the Gamecocks with bad calls, they actually went out of their way to help the Tigers tackle quarterback Stephen Garcia.

No, really. While scrambling from oncoming LSU defenders on a first-and-goal play, Garcia found the umpire amidst the pack. The ref could have easily gotten out of the way but instead he squared his shoulders and did his best Ray Lewis impersonation on the unsuspecting redshirt freshman, dropping him to the turf.

And that description is no exaggeration. Watch the video above and you will see the zebra actually jumped into Garcia. On purpose. He physically went out of his way to deliver a right shoulder tackle.

It’s unbelievable. I’ve been watching football for years and have never seen anything like it. Sure, refs will accidentally bring down a player every now and again, but usually they do everything possible to avoid it.

I’m not sure who the umpire for the game was, but, of course, the NCAA did absolutely nothing about it. No suspension, not even an official statement.

Losing to LSU by only a touchdown was tough for the Gamecock Nation. Especially after leading for much of the game only to come up short in the end.

I’m not sure what play this happened on because I was at the game and few people, if any, in the stadium noticed it at the time. But it certainly throws a little added sting to a difficult defeat.