Any referee who wants to take control of a game has got a new bar to meet thanks to this SEC officiating crew.

In the first quarter of Saturday night’s game between Tennessee and Kentucky, every player on each team was assessed a personal foul penalty after a first-quarter skirmish. No, seriously. Every single player on both teams was penalized.

Because of an NCAA rule that requires an automatic ejection for any player with two personal fouls, every player on the field was suddenly risking an ejection with a personal foul penalty over the final 55 minutes of the game.

And sure enough, players got ejected. Kentucky wide receiver Tavin Richardson and Tennessee’s Daniel Bituli and Rashaan Gaulden were all thrown out of the game after they picked up personal fouls.

We understand why the officiating crew did what it did — sorting out who deserved a personal foul and who didn’t could have taken a really long time. But no matter what, this doesn’t seem like a tool you want to have to use often if you’re a referee.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee

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