Kiffin says official claimed he would be killed for stopping Kentucky play

LSU head coach Lane Kiffin stated on Sunday that a line judge told him he would have been killed if the official had blown the whistle to stop a Kentucky play before halftime. The comment emerged after Kentucky defeated LSU 35-34 in overtime in Lexington on Saturday, a game decided by a touchdown at the end of the first half that Kiffin believes was ruled incorrectly.

With three seconds remaining in the second quarter and the ball on the LSU one-yard line, Kentucky head coach Will Stein chose to attempt a touchdown rather than kick a field goal to tie the game at 17. Wildcats quarterback Kenny Minchey was initially stopped at the goal line by the LSU defense, but a subsequent push by the Kentucky offensive line moved him across the plane for a touchdown. Kiffin argued that the officials should have signaled the play dead due to forward progress being stopped, regardless of the game situation.

During his Sunday press conference, Kiffin quoted the line judge as saying there was too much at stake to make the call. The official told Kiffin that whistling the play dead would have resulted in his death, despite the apparent stoppage of forward progress. Kiffin contended that officials cannot refuse to blow the whistle solely because a play is high-profile. "The rules are the rules," Kiffin added, asserting that if forward progress is stopped, the whistle should be blown whether it is on first down or with ten minutes remaining in the game.

The game featured other disputed moments that contributed to its intensity. After LSU scored first in overtime, Kentucky responded with a touchdown and then opted to go for two points to secure the win. On Kentucky's initial two-point conversion attempt, a player appeared to flinch, and a penalty flag was thrown but negated by a timeout called by the Wildcats. Shortly after, Minchey entered the end zone to complete Kentucky's second overtime victory in consecutive weeks.