One of the most talked-about plays this weekend was the final play of the Washington-BYU game. If you somehow didn’t hear about it went like this:
- BYU was leading 28-21, with a few seconds left in the 4th quarter
- Washington QB Jake Locker scores with 2 seconds left to make the score 28-27
- After he scored, he threw the ball in the air behind him and then hugged his teammates in celebration
- An unsportsmanlike penalty was called by Larry Farina for excessive celebration, resulting in a 15 yard penalty
- The resulting extra point (now about 34 yards instead of 19) was blocked, winning the game for BYU.
Here’s a clip of the end of the game:
So the big question: was it the right call?
On one hand, it was completely fair — the rules clearly state that it should be called as a penalty. However, the rules also clearly state that the ball should be “returned to the official or left near the dead ball spot”. How often does that happen? 50% of the time, maybe? I guess I missed all of those other penalties when players toss the ball on the ground.
The PAC-10 has come out and said it was a good call. What do you think?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I am losing my trust with the refs. Especially any team playing against Denver in their own stadium. They did this last season in 2007-2008 and currently this season. Especially on September 14, 2008 against the Chargers. Where for some reason the Denver replay wasn’t working for a fumble that was ruled in favor against the Chargers, where a play just before was also a fumble and that ruled in favor to the Broncos. The same exact way. Not to mention that at the end of the game there was no whistle blown from the obvious fumble the Chargers recovered and then the clock was never restarted as well as the play clock restarted itself several times to 10, then 9, then to 5, and back to four. It was never a count down but a stop and disappear and then a restart as the game clock never moved. Even after the Head Ref blew the noticable whistle and the cameras showed his fingers to roll the clock it didn’t move except as the Denver quarter back had the ball and he started to move his hand back, not when it was whistled or shown. I can also tell you other games and other Denver errors.
I think by now you are guessing as to why I said Denver errors. Well…I actually received an exclusive tour of the grounds as well as a an exclusive extensive tour of the technical side and rooms of each news, organization, referree area, ESPN, and all other news casts. I know who actually runs the systems, who actually does the commercials who controls the reviews, where everyone sits as well what kind of control the teams have in time, ball placement, and so forth and I know that when Denver is losing a big game…Things happen. Mismanagement, Ref errors, time placement, and penalties. I believe that these things need to get alleviated or this issue will climb higher and be recognized big just like the Patriots, who got in trouble with there Stadium cameras, penalties, refs, and so forth. So, please if the refs are reading this. This is a very big effect and will continue to haunt by Denver cheating the awesome game of Football that millions have grown to love.
I’m not sure about the Washington game on 9/8. But did anyone get a load of the San Diego/Denver game on 9/14. Refereee Ed Hochuli clearly blew that game. It was laughable. Mr. Hochuli should go back to his law office and leave the grid iron. He is an embarrassment. I think he has the same ethics as Tim Donaghy in the NBA. I hope someone reviews his officiating and fines him accordingly.
I’m in total agreement about the Chargers game on 9/14, and that Hochuli blew yet another game. I’ve been slowly losing my patience with NFL officiating, highlighted by the disgraceful performance of the Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl. I’m close to walking away from this game all together if this lack-luster officiating continues. It’s pathetic!
I can agree that most of the time, a bad call or two really has no effect on the outcome of the contest, however, in this case is was huge. To blow two critical calls during the game that resulted on 15 Denver points made it huge. Simply saying that there was nothing Hochuli could do is an unacceptable excuse and a cop-out to say the least. Putting this in perspective that it is a game is not valid, many people’s careers are based on a game. As a high school football coach and former college football player, I am in the “business” of teaching and molding our future leaders. How can I say that playing the game by the rules and by doing what is right has any validity at all when officiating totally blows a call on national television TWICE and we have a society that continues to ignore greater maladies of unsportsmanlike conduct. There are no consequences for inappropriate unsportsmanship and there will be no justification for the chargers nor penalty for Hochuli’s crew making such huge mistakes.
All this rambling about the Denver game. Looking at the Washington game which is what this post was about the call is correct. Washington got hosed by the inflexibility of the NCAA rulebook not the NCAA official. The rule EXPLICITLY states you can’t throw the ball in the air. It may be a bad rule, at the very least an inflexible rule but it was properly applied.