[Husker] What exactly is the defense doing?

[Steve Schmadeke]

I happened to be TiVo-ing the game.

I too was caught off guard by the sudden announcement of a roughing  
call at the end of this sequence, but running it back, I could see  
that when the referee made the original announcement that the play  
was going to be reviewed, he was also in the process of tucking a  
flag back into his pocket.  Shortly after that, the "Flag" indicator  
flashed on the FSN scoreboard bar at the top of the screen, staying  
on for a while, though the announcers never touched on it.

I also believe that radio and noise issues were a contributing factor  
to the referee's initial wrong announcement.  I think he misheard the  
discussion coming from the booth upstairs.  During this time, he  
could be seen on camera fiddling and tapping his belt radio.  When he  
made that first announcement to the crowd, the signal was also  
breaking up.  So I don't think that they reviewed it a second time, I  
think it just took two tries to communicate the whole discussion,  
including the appropriate placement of the ball after the penalty was  
assessed.

Eventually, they got it right.  It was a fumble.  It was also  
roughing.  Neither coach blew his top, though Pat Hill did eventually  
have to come all the way across the field to join the discussion with  
Franchione and the head referee.

And while I agree it was unusual how that situation all played out,  
I've been seeing more and more plays recently where players are  
making that stretch or dive for the goal line, often unnecessarily,  
and losing the ball along the way.  The Wake Forest receiver also did  
the same against Nebraska, though in his case, he did step out of  
bounds before the ball came loose.

On Sep 9, 2007, at 7:14 PM, Steve Reichenbach wrote:

> I thought the most interesting officiating incident yesterday was in
> the Fresno State at Texas A&M game, which I believe had a WAC crew.
>
> In overtime, when Fresno State had to score to match A&M, the Fresno
> State player was close to the goal line and nearly out of bounds.  He
> thrust the ball at the end line and it came out of his hands and went
> into the end zone where a Texas A&M player picked it up.  The ref
> mistakenly called him out of bounds a the 1 yd line.  The replay  
> showed
> absolutely that he was not out of bounds before he lost the ball and
> showed pretty clearly that the ball was not over the goal line either.
> The call went to review.
>
> If the ref had called it correctly, then the game would have been over
> and A&M would have won.  If the ref's call was confirmed, then Fresno
> State would have a first and goal from the one yard line, which was  
> the
> wrong call.  The announcers didn't discuss the intricacies of the
> review, but I believe it is the case that if the ref blows the play
> dead for the player going out of bounds then what happens after can't
> be reversed.  If that is true, then it would be a critically important
> oficieating error that couldn't be corrected.
>
> When the review came back, it confirmed the call on the field, without
> explanation (when it was very clearly a wrong call).  I wondered if
> they were afraid to say it was the wrong call but couldn't be
> overturned.  Then, an amazing thing happened.  They reversed the first
> review (which I didn't know could be done) and ruled that the call
> was reversed (which I didn't think could be done), which would mean
> Texas A&M would win, but they added that there was a penalty against
> A&M for roughing the passer.  In the replays, the announcers said they
> saw the flag for the call, but I never saw the flag on a couple of
> replays.  Moreover, the penalty hadn't been mentioned by the refs
> during all of the very long review.
>
> Anyway, in the end, it seemed a good resolution of the issue.  Texas
> A&M didn't get the win, which I don't think they could have because
> I don't think they can award a fumble to A&M after the whistle, but
> Fresno State didn't get the ball at the one yard line, which I don't
> think they should have since their player clearly fumbled the ball
> away.  Instead, it was almost a do over --- Fresno State got the ball
> back at near the point they were before and the outcome was determined
> on the field by subsequent the play (with A&M eventually winning).
>
> It was unusual.
>
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