On Thanksgiving evening, a college football game lost a one-point game after their kicker missed an extra point after a touchdown that would have tied the game, but a 15-yard penalty assessed against the kicking team after the touchdown aided the failure, and the reason for the penalty was this: the receiver who scored the touchdown celebrated by pretending to urinate like a dog.
Ole Miss receiver Elijah Moore performed his stunt after he scored in the the final seconds of the Egg Bowl between the University of Mississippi and arch-rival Mississippi State. As The Daily Mail noted, “After crossing the goal line, Moore was seen crawling along on all fours, before lifting his right leg high into the air as if to mark his territory.” The 15-yard penalty caused the extra point to be kicked from 35 yards out.
This Egg Bowl ending was INSANE 🤯
Ole Miss scored with 4 seconds left and had a chance to tie the game with the PAT.
After a flag for the excessive celebration moved the PAT back, the kicker missed wide right and Mississippi State held on to win the Egg Bowl 21-20. pic.twitter.com/z4U7c8JukQ
— ESPN (@espn) November 29, 2019
Ole Miss lost the game 21-20. Ole Miss coach Matt Luke and Athletics Director Keith Carter issued a statement, saying:
We want to apologize formally to the Ole Miss family for the disappointing and unacceptable action that occurred at the end of Thursday’s game. Elijah is a fine young man who lost control of his emotions in the moment. This incident does not reflect in any way the type of student-athletes on our football team or the culture of respect that permeates our locker room. Discipline is a staple of our program as evidenced by being the least penalized team in the league and we will continue to hold an uncompromising standard of behavior on and off the field. In maintaining our team’s high level of accountability, we will address the matter, and disciplinary action will be handled internally.
Moore added, “I apologize to my teammates, coaches, and Rebel Nation for my actions at the end of the game. It was an emotional moment, and I deeply regret it. It does not represent who I am or who we are as a team, and I will grow stronger from this mistake.”
Joint statement from Ole Miss AD Keith Carter and Matt Luke and also from WR Elijah Moore: pic.twitter.com/rln2HGCV4G
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 29, 2019
Pete Thamel wrote for Yahoo Sports, “Moore clearly isn’t majoring in self-awareness at Ole Miss, as he left the field after the penalty and began sauntering around the sideline with a WWE-style wrestling belt over his shoulder. As he was being mocked viciously online, he was parading around as a hero in his own mind.”
The Daily Mail quoted the remarks on social media targeting Moore, including:
Your selfish actions cost the whole team the game. Congrats hope you feel good about it.
When they told you to give the team a leg up, that wasn’t what they meant at all…
Moore’s actions were not the first time an Ole Miss star was penalized for imitating a urinating dog; D. K. Metcalf was similarly penalized in 2017 in the Egg Bowl, which came after NFL receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had performed the stunt after he scored for the New York Giants. Beckham said later, “I was in the end zone, I scored a touchdown — I’m a dog, so I acted like a dog … I don’t know if the rule book said, ‘You can’t hike your leg.’”