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Officials nullify Iowa State TD with horrible taunting penalty

What in the world was the officiating crew in Ames thinking on this play?

Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson scored a 51-yard touchdown in the the third quarter of ISU's game against Oklahoma State. Hutchinson beat his defender on the play and had a free run to the end zone. So he had a little bit of fun as he cruised to the goal line. A little bit. Not a lot. A little bit. But that little bit was too much for the staid crew calling the game. He got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Take a look at this TD and see if you think what Hutchinson did was a 15-yard penalty.

Officials in both college football and the NFL have been attempting to crack down on players taunting each other. And even if you agree that they should be cracking down — having fun is part of football — you can't support the call here. It's an egregious penalty. And that's being nice.

Thankfully, the football gods agreed with those of us who hated the call. Iowa State got the ball at the 18 after the penalty was assessed from inside the five and scored three plays later when Hutchinson caught another TD pass from Brock Purdy.

That one counted. And it tied the game at 14-14 as Iowa State went on to win 24-21.