Olympic Fan
11-20-2011, 12:42 PM
Okay, here's one for the philosophers out there.
Vandy and Tennessee are in overtime. Vandy gets the ball first. On the second play, the Vandy QB (Aaron Rogers' little brother) throws an out pass that picked by a Tennessee defensive back, who then appears to stumble to his knees, but gets up and returns the ball 85-yards for the touchdown. As he takes off, the side judge, just feet from the play, blows his whistle and waves his arms over his head, signalling that the Tennessee defender is down where he stumbled.
When they go to replay, the referee announces that since no whistle was blown (a blatant falsehood) the only determination is whether his knee touched. The replay official determines that the kid's knee never touches the ground -- it's close, but the replay gets it right -- and thus his return counts and Tennessee wins 27-21. Later, the SEC issues a ruling that the whistle WAS blown and that the play never should have been reviewed.
My question is, was justice done? If the linesman doesn't botch the call and blow his whistle, the kid returns the ball for a touchdown and Tennessee wins. Or maybe there was a Vandy kid who stopped chasing him when he heard the whistle (I watched the replay and saw several players on both teams stop at the whistle, but I'm not sure any of the Vandy kids could have caught him anyway). By rule, the play was dead and should not have been reviewed ... Tennessee should have gotten the ball at the 25 for its try in overtime and could have won the fgame anyway with a FG or TD.
So what was the right outcome?
BTW Did anybody else see the end of the Virginia-FSU game? It looked like a Duke game (from FSU's point of view). The Seminoles absolutely dominate the game, but because of an incredible series of mistakes, they are only up 13-7 when Virginia goes 95 yards in about three minutes to score the go-ahead TD with 56 seconds left. FSU gets a good KO return and quickly moves the ball to near midfield, where they face a fourth and five with about 30 seconds left. Manuel is sacked and Virginia appears to have the game won, but wait ... there is a flag -- the guy sacking Manuel is called for facemask. Mike London goes nuts, but replay shows it was a good call (that's just TV replay, the play wasn't reviewed officially).
FSU quickly gets the ball to the Virginia 30 with 12 seconds left and no timeouts. They try to get a little closer and throw an out pass for about six yards ... only the receiver makes a diving catch short of the sideline. The clock keeps running and runs out before FSU can attempt the game-winning FG. Virginia storms on the field in celebration, everything is choas ... but, wait, the game isn't over ... the replay wants to review the catch to see if the receiver got out of bounds -- he didn't, but after a six minuite review, they determine that he didbn't actually make the catch and the pass was incomplete.
Again London goes nuts -- he's already sent his team to the locker room and he has to get them back. Dustin Hopkins, the best FG kicker in the ACC, lines up for a 47-yard field goal. Before he can kick it, there is movement on the line -- false start? a Five-yard penalty" a 52-yard field goal? (Contrary to the TV announcer, the new 10-second runoff rule would not apply because the clock was stopped). No, the ruling is that someone on the Virginia defense was calling false signals to make the FSU lineman jump.
You can imagine London now as the third big call in a row goes against him ... Hopkins lines up for the 42-yard kick -- and knocks it wide left.
Wow!
Vandy and Tennessee are in overtime. Vandy gets the ball first. On the second play, the Vandy QB (Aaron Rogers' little brother) throws an out pass that picked by a Tennessee defensive back, who then appears to stumble to his knees, but gets up and returns the ball 85-yards for the touchdown. As he takes off, the side judge, just feet from the play, blows his whistle and waves his arms over his head, signalling that the Tennessee defender is down where he stumbled.
When they go to replay, the referee announces that since no whistle was blown (a blatant falsehood) the only determination is whether his knee touched. The replay official determines that the kid's knee never touches the ground -- it's close, but the replay gets it right -- and thus his return counts and Tennessee wins 27-21. Later, the SEC issues a ruling that the whistle WAS blown and that the play never should have been reviewed.
My question is, was justice done? If the linesman doesn't botch the call and blow his whistle, the kid returns the ball for a touchdown and Tennessee wins. Or maybe there was a Vandy kid who stopped chasing him when he heard the whistle (I watched the replay and saw several players on both teams stop at the whistle, but I'm not sure any of the Vandy kids could have caught him anyway). By rule, the play was dead and should not have been reviewed ... Tennessee should have gotten the ball at the 25 for its try in overtime and could have won the fgame anyway with a FG or TD.
So what was the right outcome?
BTW Did anybody else see the end of the Virginia-FSU game? It looked like a Duke game (from FSU's point of view). The Seminoles absolutely dominate the game, but because of an incredible series of mistakes, they are only up 13-7 when Virginia goes 95 yards in about three minutes to score the go-ahead TD with 56 seconds left. FSU gets a good KO return and quickly moves the ball to near midfield, where they face a fourth and five with about 30 seconds left. Manuel is sacked and Virginia appears to have the game won, but wait ... there is a flag -- the guy sacking Manuel is called for facemask. Mike London goes nuts, but replay shows it was a good call (that's just TV replay, the play wasn't reviewed officially).
FSU quickly gets the ball to the Virginia 30 with 12 seconds left and no timeouts. They try to get a little closer and throw an out pass for about six yards ... only the receiver makes a diving catch short of the sideline. The clock keeps running and runs out before FSU can attempt the game-winning FG. Virginia storms on the field in celebration, everything is choas ... but, wait, the game isn't over ... the replay wants to review the catch to see if the receiver got out of bounds -- he didn't, but after a six minuite review, they determine that he didbn't actually make the catch and the pass was incomplete.
Again London goes nuts -- he's already sent his team to the locker room and he has to get them back. Dustin Hopkins, the best FG kicker in the ACC, lines up for a 47-yard field goal. Before he can kick it, there is movement on the line -- false start? a Five-yard penalty" a 52-yard field goal? (Contrary to the TV announcer, the new 10-second runoff rule would not apply because the clock was stopped). No, the ruling is that someone on the Virginia defense was calling false signals to make the FSU lineman jump.
You can imagine London now as the third big call in a row goes against him ... Hopkins lines up for the 42-yard kick -- and knocks it wide left.
Wow!