The ACC has fined Florida State $20,000 for comments made by Jimbo Fisher in his postgame press conference about the officials after the Seminoles' 37-34 loss to Clemson on Saturday.
Fisher went off on the officiating from the game and was especially upset about a chop block call that negated a 50-yard run by Dalvin Cook in the fourth quarter.
"It's ridiculous, it's not a chop, it was not a chop. And I'm going to tell you what, you hold coaches accountable, players accountable, hold the damn officials accountable. It's garbage. And then to call another penalty on the sideline is even more garbage. It's cowardly, it's gutless and wrong," Fisher told reporters after the game.
"Now they can take it, fine it, do whatever they want to do with it, that's a fact. Look at the film. It's ridiculous that they do it. That was a huge call in the game. Now, [we] still had chances to win the game after that. That's ridiculous and the guy wasn't even in position to make it and plus it was 10 yards down the field so the penalty should have been marked from there, not from the line of scrimmage."
The ACC did not appreciate the comments and fined the school $20,000. Pittsburgh was fined $5,000 for comments made by coach Pat Narduzzi about the officiating in the Panthers' 39-36 loss to Virginia Tech.
From the ACC's release:
"Fisher and Narduzzi's postgame comments regarding officials were in direct violation of the ACC Sportsmanship Policy that states: 'Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office.'"
