Ole Miss and Kentucky registered two of the biggest wins in their respective programs’ recent histories last weekend, then received hefty fines from the SEC for celebrating those victories.

Makes perfect sense, right? Of course not.

The SEC fined Kentucky $25,000 for storming the field following its largest fourth quarter comeback ever in a win against South Carolina, and Ole Miss was fined $50,000 for storming the field for the third time in a three-year span after beating No. 1 Alabama in the biggest game of last weekend. While I agree storming the field three times in three years is a bit much, it still doesn’t justify the fines.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive tried to explain the fines on Sunday, but his explanation was all kinds of underwhelming.

“Saturday’s games were filled with excitement and celebration for a number of schools across the SEC last weekend, but significant risk of injury for student-athletes and fans alike can result from incidents such as these,” Slive said. “Health and safety will always be a top priority at SEC athletic events.”

Where do I even begin to rip that statement apart?

Slive says health and safety are “a top priority” for the SEC, but nothing the SEC does during the game or in response to storming the field promotes safety in any way. There’s no initiative to keep fans off the field beyond a few helpless security guards, outnumbered by fans by more than 100 to 1.

It’s not like the fans themselves don’t pay the fine, because they don’t — the school does. (The Ole Miss fan base underwent an incredible fundraising effort, but ultimately no fans had to pay a cent). So how does the fine dissuade fans from celebrating a big win? It doesn’t, which is why storming the field has grown more popular.

And after collecting fines from schools, $75,000 from Ole Miss and UK this weekend alone, the money doesn’t even go toward promoting player or fan safety.

I initially thought the money lined the pockets of the big cats in the SEC offices, which would be despicable, if true. Thankfully, it’s not. According an email from SEC spokesman Chuck Dunlap, 100 percent of money collected from field storming fines goes toward SEC scholarship initiatives, which is a worthy cause.

However, it’s also a complete disconnect from fan safety, which is the reason for the fines in the first place. I’m not saying the scholarship fund isn’t deserving of the money, I’m just saying it’s not deserving of this money.

The SEC would be better off using the money toward campaigns promoting fan safety in stadiums across the SEC, or even toward programs promoting player safety the way the NFL’s Heads Up campaign does. At least those campaigns would be in line with the reason for the fines. Otherwise, I don’t see a justification for the fines at all.

Ole Miss already had to pay $22,000 to replace its goalposts following the ruckus on the field. Isn’t that enough of a financial burden to “punish” Ole Miss for celebrating a win? If you’re not going to use the Rebels’ $50,000 toward making their players or fans safe, isn’t that a little ridiculous?

Lastly, let’s not kid ourselves into believing fans are more of a safety hazard on the field than in the bleachers. The hazard is herding a large group of passionate, like-minded, often inebriated fans into a small space. Fans do stupid things all the time, like throw things onto the field and get into fights with one another, so I just have a difficult time understanding why storming the field is such a greater hazard.

Really, it’s the players who are most at risk when fans storm the field, especially players from the losing side. But as long as there are policies in place to get the players off the field safely, this is a problem that can be avoided without a five-figure fine.

The SEC’s intentions are righteous, but its execution is poor. It did nothing to increase safety, but did rain on two schools’ parades following monumental victories, and that’s just too bad.