'That call' from South Carolina-LSU selected as one of the worst officiating moments of the season by On3
This week, On3’s Pete Nakos released an article titled “Ranking 10 worst officiating calls of 2024 college football season.” Just as it sounds, Nakos’ piece looked back at some of the worst moments of refereeing of the 2024 season. As most South Carolina football fans would expect, the Gamecocks’ matchup with LSU made the list.
When College GameDay came to Columbia back in September, LSU won 36-33. However, controversial penalties marred the game throughout. Arguably the most impactful of the penalties came in the fourth quarter. Nick Emmanwori’s underneath coverage fooled LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, and the Bayou Bengal QB threw a 100-yard pick-six that would have put USC ahead by two scores with less than six minutes left in the game. The return was called back, though, because of a personal foul against EDGE Kyle Kennard. Kennard gave Nussmeier a hard shove (from the front) to block the quarterback from making a play on Emmanwori. The officials didn’t like it and threw a flag. Nakos ranked the call the third-worst penalty in all of college football this season.
You can watch the entire play below.
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The flag was a bad one, and it was worth inclusion on Nakos’ list. However, there is a real argument that the call wasn’t even the worst one from that game.
The Gamecocks also had another defensive touchdown called back due to a horsecollar; based on new rules, though, it was probably the right call. In the 4th quarter, officials took a 2-point conversion off the board due to an alleged illegal man downfield penalty.
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The worst call of the game also came in the 4th period.
With the Gamecocks driving, a long pass play from Robby Ashford to Dalevon Campbell was erased due to a phantom offensive pass interference call against fellow receiver Mazeo Bennett, who had an LSU defender run into him away from the ball. The call killed a big gain and moved South Carolina out of field goal range. USC would score 0 points on the drive after fumbling a few plays later. Play-by-play man Chris Fowler and analyst Kirk Herbstreit couldn’t believe the call.
Following the game, Herbstreit made multiple comments about the poor officiating and how penalty flags decided the outcome. Despite the large number of questionable calls and non-calls from the game, the Nick Emmanwori pick-six (Nick-six?) easily is the most famous, hence its placement on On3’s list.
Nakos’ list put the result-altering overturned Virginia Tech Hail Mary against Miami and the Texas-Georgia pass interference fiasco ahead of Emmanwori’s canceled pick-six.
