Tulsa WR gets penalized and TD taken away for briefly high-stepping towards end zone

This is absurd.

Tulsa wide receiver Justin Hobbs got penalized and his team lost a touchdown because he briefly high-stepped on his way into the end zone in the third quarter against SMU on Friday.

We’re going to be clear. The absurdity is not Hobbs’ brief high-step, which you can see below. It’s the fact that the official on the sideline deemed it worthy of a taunting penalty. Can’t football be fun?

It’s not like Hobbs ran high-stepped backwards into the end zone while taunting the SMU defenders he left in his wake after an impressive catch. He simply realized he was going to score, briefly celebrated and went on his merry way into the end zone.

Is what he did taunting any more than a player who slows his run to a walk at the end of a long touchdown with no defenders near him? We don’t think so.

The NCAA needs to tell officials to stop strictly enforcing the early-celebration rule. Or just stop enforcing it altogether and wipe it from the books. This is getting dumb.

The loss of the touchdown cost Tulsa four points too. The Golden Hurricane ended up kicking a field goal on the drive.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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