[NU Sports] Big Ten bowls ... 0-1 (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> The announcers were right--one of the worst officiated  bowl games I had ever 
> seen. Sure Michigan blew it with some turnovers in the 4th Q, but the game 
> was stolen-bad calls, inexperienced refs  with the replay rule...

I though the bad calls were roughly evenly split.  The catch interference
penalty was a bad break for the Huskers, the pass interference no-call was
a bad break for Michigan.  I have no idea how to score the last play of
the game, both teams had players and/or coaches on the field, there was 
also a steadicam operator and a still photographer out there, plus several 
others.  (However, as I've pointed out numerous times, Joe Paterno and 
half the Penn State team was on the field several seconds before they 
scored the winning TD against the Cats, with an official running right
past them at the time.)

I think the replay booth eventually got the TD reversal and the end zone 
interception calls right, and Lloyd Carr's 2nd time-out-enabled review was 
also correctly ruled a fumble IMHO.

However, coaches shouldn't have to use up their time outs to get the
officials to review key plays, those time outs could have been a big help
to Michigan in the final minutes.  The NCAA should modify their review
procedure to give the coaches a couple of red flags like in the NFL.
(But I like the booth being able to initiate reviews too.)

This has been a problem in several bowl games already, the review system 
doesn't work if the guy in the pressbox doesn't press the button!

Moreover, a truism of football is that a team should NEVER put itself in
a position where a bad call can cost them the game, and Michigan blew 
several chances to put the game away in the 2nd half, something that
has been a problem for them all year long.  

This has been grating on me for two days:  If Rutgers could score 
40 points against ASU, why the heck couldn't Northwestern score more
than 21 against them?
--
Mike Nolan