First of all, in case you missed it, Kentucky lost its best player early in the second quarter of Friday night's Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN, due to this egregious action:

Benny Snell was just ejected from the game for this. Refusing a refs help up?!? Never seen anything like it pic.twitter.com/MX1rMaOglJ

— B1G Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) December 29, 2017

That’s it. That was the whole thing. Wildcats running back Benny Snell Jr. got stacked up, no whistle was blown, Northwestern defenders rolled him backwards, and Snell was frustrated about it.

The nearest official, head referee Chris Coyte, offered Snell two hands of assistance and Snell impolitely said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Coyte’s feelings were so deeply hurt by Snell’s rebuff that he flagged him and ejected him from the game.

Wait, what?

In the second quarter of a 10-7 game, arguably the SEC’s best rusher was kicked out for pushing an official’s helping hands back from whence they came?

Watch it again:

This is why Benny Snell was ejected. pic.twitter.com/QVFczR8anz

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 29, 2017

Imagine if this happened to Baker Mayfield in the Rose Bowl. Literally, just stop and ponder the ramifications of that for a moment. Because that’s what this was for Kentucky — in the second quarter of a three-point game, which UK eventually lost 24-23.

Coyte offered up an explanation after the game — but, quite frankly, his explanation was bullshit.

The ref who tossed Benny Snell from the Music City Bowl gives his "explanation." pic.twitter.com/r2KzfPX3F2

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 30, 2017

Here’s how Coyte should’ve handled it: “Hey, Benny, chill out.” Instead, he drastically altered the course of the game in defense of his apparently fragile ego.

On the bright side, he can be virtually assured that no player will ever leave him hanging again. So, there’s that…