Colin Simmons got insane penalty. Then Steve Sarkisian gave wild quote
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KNOXVILLE, TN – It’s an inexcusable 15-yard penalty, but not a capital offense.
That’s how Texas coach Steve Sarkisian described one of his star players getting flagged for “simulating using the restroom,” to quote the referee who announced the penalty on Texas defensive lineman Colin Simmons.
“I’m not going to give the guy the death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,” Sarkisian said of Simmons’ penalty. “We gotta fix it, though, right? That can’t continue as we move forward.”
Simmons terrorized Tennessee’s offensive line in a 20-17 victory for No. 1 Texas that came down to the final play. He sacked Faizon Brandon five times and tossed in what’ll go down as one of the wackiest penalties in college football history.
“Can’t happen. That’s a bad football play,” Sarkisian said. “We had harped and talked about not getting emotional with the crowd, and that was the emotional play. We had a couple others that were close, too. We had a real talk about it at halftime, about how we needed to play the second half, and we needed to celebrate with one another.”
“But,” Sarkisian added, “five sacks was pretty cool.”
After one of those sacks, the Vols would have faced fourth-and-long from inside their own territory, but Simmons celebrated his sack by pretending to unzip and pee on the field.
The officials didn’t just flag the unsportsmanlike penalty. The ref proceeded to explain in some colorful detail why Simmons was being penalized.
“We took him out, we addressed it, and put him back in,” Sarkisian said of how he handled the penalty.
Good thing he did, too, because Simmons’ disruptions along the line of scrimmage helped Texas wriggle out of here with a victory.
Texas racked up 11 penalties, but that one stood out. Although Tennessee didn’t score after extending the drive, the penalty prevented Texas from gaining possession in good field position.
Texas linebacker Justin Cryer almost saw the penalty unfolding in front of him in slow motion.
“I tried to run over there and grab him,” Cryer said. “I seen where it was going, and I tried to go grab him before we got a penalty, but it was too late. After the play, I just told him, ‘Look, man, we got to just keep our head.’ I know he’s having fun, he’s excited, but at the end of the day, we don’t want to let those plays, those penalties, dictate how the game’s going to go.”
Penalty aside, Simmons helped dictate how this game would go. He never allowed Brandon to find comfort in the pocket, even if his decision on how to celebrate one of those sacks was particularly, erm, ****-poor.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colin Simmons got insane penalty. Then Steve Sarkisian gave wild quote
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