LSU’s high-octane, comeback win over rival Ole Miss had a rather controversial moment late in the game when one of the Tigers’ cheerleaders appeared to make contact with a Rebels defender after a play.
The play in question saw Garrett Nussmeier pass to Mason Taylor for a 19-yard gain. Taylor had his knee down but kept running as he thought the play was still alive and he was tackled out of bounds by an Ole Miss player. But the impact from the hit sent both Taylor and the Ole Miss player right into the path of the cheerleaders, and in the video a cheerleader appeared to have shoved the defender out of the way.
The LSU cheerleader just shoves the Ole Miss player at the end of this play. pic.twitter.com/bdBhAaUrpo
— AJ Ellingson (@AJ__Ellingson) October 13, 2024
But in the days since the play took place there’s been a bit of a debate online over whether the cheerleader actually did shove him.
Some believe that the cheerleader was just reflexively throwing out his arms to protect himself and the other cheerleaders, while Ole Miss fans believe that he shoved their guy. For the most part though, the reactions have been to either mock the Rebels for being pushed around by a cheerleader or to admonish the Rebels fans for complaining:
“Seriously? Dude put his arms up to deflect the player. My god, the Ole Miss faithful are a sensitive group,” one user replied to the original post on X.
“Imagine getting redirected by a cheerleader,” another wrote with a laughing emoji.
“LSU cheerleaders are just safeties with piss poor ball skills,” a third joked.
The overall consensus seems to be that the cheerleader was just trying to redirect the player away from him. Given how fast the player was coming towards him, we can hardly begrudge him for letting instinct take over in that moment.
What do you think?
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