STARKVILLE — The Southeastern Conference recognized mistakes were made Thursday in the Battle for the Golden Egg and put forth measures to ensure those mistakes won’t happen again.
The good news for the Mississippi State football team is those measures won’t impact its players in its upcoming bowl game.
On Monday, the SEC released a statement Monday after it reviewed the sidelines-clearing melee at the end of the third quarter of the game between then-No. 22 MSU and Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. It acknowledged the officiating crew made several errors in deciding which players were ejected from the game, but it offered only a public reprimand for those players in its statement. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen and Ross Bjork, Ole Miss’s vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics, will meet with him to help prevent the incident from happening again.
“It remains disappointing to have seen the unnecessary actions during and after the Mississippi State at Ole Miss game on Thursday night,” Sankey said in the statement. “These actions are unacceptable, and my concern relates to the bigger issue of the repeated incidents before, during and after games between these football programs. These incidents have become too common in this series. I will require both athletics directors to meet with me at the SEC Office in the off-season to review past issues and develop a plan for the purpose of creating a healthier environment for this annual game.”
Cohen later told The Dispatch, “It’s unfortunate that this series of events detracts in any way from a dominant performance from our football team Thursday night. I look forward to sitting with Commissioner Sankey and Ross Bjork in order to strengthen out of the best rivalries in college football.”
The melee stemmed from MSU safety Johnathan Abram’s attempts to wrestle the ball away from Ole Miss wide receiver A.J. Brown as they fell into the end zone. After the officials ruled Brown had scored a touchdown, Abram and Brown slapped at the other’s helmet to start the fight. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral and MSU cornerback Jamal Peters also were involved in a fight as the sidelines cleared.
After order was established, the officials issued unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to every player on both teams and flagrant personal fouls to Peters, MSU cornerback Cameron Dantzler, and Ole Miss safety C.J. Moore. Those players were ejected.
The review by the SEC office determined the call on Peters was correct, but it determined the penalties on Dantzler and Moore were incorrect. It also said Abram, Brown, and Corral also should have received flagrant personal fouls and been ejected.
MSU linebacker Willie Gay Jr. also was ejected. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he received as a result of the melee was his second of the game. He received one for a celebration in the first quarter. The review determined his ejection was the right call.
The SEC office didn’t offer a comment in its statement about the fact officials overturned Brown’s touchdown following a video review that determined the third quarter had ended prior to the play.
Having all of its players involved in the melee eligible for the bowl game is significant news for MSU. Abram is the team’s leading tackler with 93, while Gay Jr. is sixth (44). Dantzler leads the team with nine pass breakups and is tied for the team lead with two interceptions.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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