Arkansas Joining Trend That Plays with Celebratory Fire Has to Stop

Ja'Quinden Jackson, Arkansas football
photo credit: ABC

Bye weeks are usually an opportune time for coaches to go over details that likely wouldn’t come close to being a priority during a normal game week.

In the case of Sam Pittman, he was probably focused on what Arkansas did well in its most recent outing, a 19-14 victory over then No. 4 Tennessee in front of a national TV audience and the sixth-largest crowd in Razorback Stadium history.

Something that might have gotten lost in the euphoria of winning and all the theatrics afterward, but that surely he or someone on his staff went over, was Ja’Quinden Jackson’s decision making after scoring a touchdown against the Volunteers late in the third quarter.

At the 7:55 mark below, Jackson mimicked firing a weapon, which on the surface doesn’t seem like a big deal and didn’t draw a flag:

YouTube video

Still, with the benefit of hindsight, it can be argued that it could’ve been disastrous, especially when you survey the landscape of college football these days.

Not Just at Arkansas

Take, for instance, what happened in the USC-Minnesota game earlier in the day before Arkansas and Tennessee kicked off on Oct. 5.

The Golden Gophers held a one-score lead over the Trojans with under a minute left, but one of their defensive backs was penalized for simulating “brandishing a weapon,” which apparently is a point of emphasis for collegiate officials this season.

Minnesota got hit with a 15-yard penalty, but fortunately for the Gophers, Lincoln Riley was on the other sideline and couldn’t figure out how to take advantage and they held on for the 24-17 victory.

It doesn’t stop there. On that very same day, South Carolina freshman Dylan Stewart pantomimed shooting Jaxson Dart with a shotgun after sacking the Ole Miss quarterback in an eventual rout at the hands of the Rebels. That drew a 15-yard penalty, but didn’t deter Stewart from a similar pantomiming after a tackle just a few plays later.

Don’t Leave It Up to Officials

Let’s say that Malachi Singleton had seen Jackson do his pantomiming firing a weapon bit after his third quarter touchdown and had decided to emulate it after scoring his go-ahead touchdown late in the contest.

Officials see it, flag it, and tack 15 yards on to the ensuing kickoff, which would’ve made Tennessee’s life much easier in trying to go score a game-winning touchdown.

This would’ve gone in the ‘Hogs gonna Hog’ folder and led to much weeping and gnashing of teeth in Razorback Nation instead of what ultimately ended up transpiring, which is much more preferable.

It’s crazy that Arkansas essentially got a gift from SEC officials this time-which may speak to a narrative change in that regard. Think back to the 2009 Florida robbing, or multiple times in Auburn (2010 and 2020 come to mind), and they may have gotten lucky this time around.

Pittman and his staff could just pull out videos of the late Alex Collins’ highlights at Arkansas and nearly every time he scored a touchdown, he would just calmly go hand the ball to the official and jaunt back to the Arkansas sideline.

It’s not that Collins’ play didn’t deserve recognition or that he wasn’t super fired up about scoring or making a big play, it’s just that he clearly understood that it took 10 other players to help him get in the end zone and he was naturally humble and down to earth.

Plus, Collins was even from a largely “me-first” culture in the Miami area, where he grew up watching the ultimate ‘Bad Boy’ Miami Hurricanes, who are the poster child for drawing unsportsmanlike penalties after making big plays or scoring touchdowns.

Now, it may seem like I’m trying to be one of those get-off-my-lawn guys; I think college athletes should be allowed to have fun and enjoy playing the game they love and should be allowed to be demonstrative, as long as it’s in good taste.

But at the same time, tempting fate and doing something that only brings attention to one’s self or can be construed as taunting or intimidating the other team will just lead to a penalty and possibly cost the team a game.

In our politically charged climate, simulating firing a weapon can also have other consequences as well. It could be fair to speculate that the fact Jackson did it in Arkansas, which is in the South in a very red state with a lot more pro-gun rights, may have led it to not having a penalty called. In Stewart’s case with the Gamecocks, though, it was called and contributed to them losing by such a large margin. Of course, his celebration was far more demonstrative, as well.

Contrast that to the Minnesota defensive back doing it in Minneapolis, where the George Floyd protests happened, and it’s safe to say that the culture of where the game happened and the teams involved might have played a role in Jackson’s antics getting overlooked.

No pun intended, but Arkansas dodged a bullet in this regard last time they played in Fayetteville. Expect that the Arkansas football coaches instructed their players to keep such aggressive posturing in check next time. When No. 8 LSU comes to town, I would wager Jackson will holster such over-the-top celebrations and be on his best behavior Saturday night. 

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More on the trend of simulating gunplay in college football here:

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More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS… 

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