Eli Drinkwitz calls out officials after controversial roughing the kicker call against Kentucky

Missouri Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz called out the official ruling of an unusual roughing the kicker penalty after a botched snap by Kentucky. The Wildcats attempted a punt during Saturday’s game that saw the ball fly over the head of their punter and roll all the way to their own five-yard line — nearly half the field away from the line of scrimmage.

The first Missouri defender to the ball attempted to tackle the punter as he recovered the ball and tried kicking it out of bounds from his new position, believing that it was a play treated like a live ball or fumble. Unfortunately, the punter was still within the “tackle box” as the ball rolled straight down the field, and Missouri was flagged for roughing the kicker on a botched snap.

Eli Drinkwitz critical of roughing the kicker penalty

After the game, Drinkwitz was still heated over the call and mentioned that he would likely get an explanation of the rules that “defends” the referees for the call. Missouri went on to lose to Kentucky 21-17 following the penalty call.

“How a guy can still be a protected punter 50 yards down the field and how our guy is supposed to know he can’t tackle him is beyond me,” said Drinkwitz via the Columbia Daily Tribune. “But I’m sure I’ll get an explanation and I’m sure it will defend [the referees].”

“They’re rewarded for a huge mistake,” Drinkwitz added. “The young man was able to kick the ball, at least give us the ball at the 30. But they snap the over his head and they rewarded them with a first down.”

The play’s timing only added to the terrible stroke of bad luck for the Missouri defense, as they were preparing to receive the punt down 21-17 with a real chance to score on offense. Instead, Kentucky was given the ball back with a fresh set of downs off the penalty and were able to successfully kill the clock down to just 38 seconds remaining in the game.