Troy University head football coach Jon Sumrall lost his mind during the Sun Belt Championship on Saturday evening in Alabama. The 41-year-old was furious about a blatant missed call.
He had every right to be angry!
Trojans quarterback Gunnar Watson stepped up in the pocket on 2nd-and-9 during the third quarter. As he did, outside linebacker Thomas Davis grabbed his facemask while trying to disrupt the play.
Here’s a (really poor quality) look:
It was the most facemasked facemask that ever facemasked. And yet, somehow, App State got away with the egregious penalty. The officials totally missed it and did not throw a flag.
What should have been 15 yards in favor of Troy was not. Everybody moved on to the next down.
Not Sumrall! He gave the officials a piece of his mind.
That might be an understatement. Sumrall went ballistic.
Rarely, if ever, does a head coach need multiple get back coaches to keep him from charging at the nearest referee. It took three different staffers to keep Sumrall from launching a full-blown attack.
For the Sun Belt officiating crew to miss such an obvious penalty is a pretty bad look. Fortunately, after Sumrall calmed down, his offense was able to march down the field and extend its lead.
Even though the facemask did not impact the drive, all of the officials in charge of Saturday’s championship need to be placed under review. Either that, or the Sun Belt must mandate that they wear glasses during games because… yikes. Not flagging App State on that play was a really, really bad miss.
That is simply unacceptable. Jon Sumrall had every reason to be absolutely furious and, obviously, he was!
Imagine if that call had played a direct role in the outcome of the college football game????
Hooooo boy. That would have been bad.