I could only shake my head yesterday when the news came down from the SEC office that University of Arkansas wide receiver Marquel Wade has been suspended by the league for Saturday’s Top 10 tilt with South Carolina because of his personal foul in last week’s victory over Vanderbilt.

It was just the latest in a long line of uneven decisions by a conference that protects its sacred cows and treats others like tripe.

To be sure, Wade’s hit on Vandy punt returner Jonathan Krause, at first blush, looked as dirty as they come. Tack on Wade’s post-hit behavior, and I can understand why and how he was ejected from the Vanderbilt game (although I think it was the wrong decision given the way the SEC has handled similar plays).

The hit looked dirty. It was vicious. Wade appeared to celebrate the injury (although more likely, as he said, he was celebrating the play and what he thought was a favorable outcome) 20,000 Vandy fans were screaming for an ejection, and Wade was mouthing.

A closer look, though, suggests that while Wade’s hit was early, and deserved a penalty, and his actions following it were improvident, malicious intent may well have been lacking.

Krause appeared to shade his eyes from the sun rather than call for a fair catch. At full speed (about 20 MPH for a guy with Wade’s 4.3 speed, going full tilt) it all happened quickly, and was complicated by Krause making a late movement toward Wade. It literally happened as quickly as the blink of an eye.

Wade likely saw Krause’s hands come down to make the catch in unison with the passing of the shadow of the ball, and thought he timed the hit perfectly. Wade said as much in the apology that he made, yesterday.

The officials appeared to agree, in part, at least regarding the lack of a fair catch call, because the ball was live and was returned upfield (and VU declined the the penalty). I think he flipped out because no one would listen to his version of events. But, he definitely should not have done so. It made a bad situation much worse. (That said….listen closely…is it just me, or is the “yapping” yapping that Wade is doing with Coach Veltkamp not him saying “I didn’t know that, Coach, that’s what I am trying to tell you!”.)

As a result, Wade was ejected, and now suspended, for a “flagrant personal foul”. But, let’s be real. He’s in hot water because he made the hit THEN acted badly following the hit (on the field and on the sidelines). Would he have been ejected and suspended if he was wearing Crimson and White instead of Cardinal and White?

Given SEC precedent, who knows? I guess the answer, for the SEC, depends upon which uniform you are wearing. If it’s Bama, you get a flag, but no ejection.

If it’s Auburn, you can make repeated dirty hits on the same player, almost start several brawls, celebrate at midfield with one of your coaches, and get a flag and a “private reprimand” during a season filled with dirty hits.