All across the country collegiate fans this week (and possible throughout the remainder of the season) will likely remember this game based on the one that got away ("The Call"). Maybe it was the fact that the Huskies went into this game already down their canine mascot. Or could it be they just wanted finally a victory for Jake. Whatever it was the purple and gold jerseys played with heart and emotion saturday afternoon. Despite being outshined in nearly every offensive statistical category Locker and company proved to be worthy opponent for the Cougars to gain that elusive out of conference road win.Finally for one game the Cougs offensive line allowed Max Hall more than enough time to pick and choose his weapons. Max was not touched the entire game. Hall dialed in 30 times for 340 yards with 3 touchdowns. The road graters did an outstanding job paving the way for Unga to gut out 136 yards against a BCS opponent with an average of nearly 6 yards per carry. Having Fui back on offense was merely icing on the cake.
Dennis Pitta continued his outrageous pace racking up almost more yardage than the Husky play-ground game combined. Pitta finished with 10 receptions for 148 yards and 1 touchdown. Collie added a touchdown on 5 catches with 75 yards. The offense's third down efficiency was simply amazing converting 12 of a possible 14.
However, in only two attempts for the day CJ Santiago could only muster a mere 27.5 average while his counterpart Jared Ballman had 5 punts averaging 47.4 yards (3 of which pinned the Cougs inside the 20). Sorensen also couldn't seem to get the mustard on his kickoff's either. Something has clearly got to give. The Cougs offensive machine can only score so many points and rack up so many yards. On the bright side Mitch Payne was definately a positive influence on special teams in drilling all 4 possible attempts.
Through nearly all four quarters the Huskies only were flagged for 1 penalty (illegal substitution for five yards). Yeah not one holding. Nor one false start or illegal procedure. All common calls yet that definately sounds a little suspicious to me. If you were to tell me that the jerseys in purple and gold would only have one penalty (minus the last minute) then I've got some beachfront property to sell you. The media loving Huskies seemed to have the officials in their back pocket for most of the game. This is where things get interesting.
In the last minute of regulation Locker clearly placed the Huskies on his back. With 54 seconds left Locker was flagged for intentional grounding negating a possible fumble as well as stopping the clock. On second and 19 Jake made the hookup with D'Andrew Goodwin for 20 yards and the drive began. After an incomplete pass Ian Dulan was tackled in front of an official (yeah surprise surprise no call) allowing Jake to scamper up the middle for 15 yards to the three yard line avoiding the sack. Heaving two consecutive incomplete passes (one to each direction) left the clock at 11 seconds to play. On third and three Locker rushed left for the game tying touchdown.
In his excitement Jake heaved the ball upwards a minimum of 20 feet (you can clearly see and judge for yourself the distance from the included photo) and got flagged for celebration. Were points taken off the board? Or suspiciously added? Negative. It only made the PAT a little longer. Yet this is what the media outcry seems to be in uproar about. ESPNs Mark May called it "horrible and inexcusable". Are you kidding me? Ted Miller (also from ESPN) added "It was one of the worst judgement calls you will ever see". Note to ESPN if all the "if's" and "but's" were candy and nuts then we'd all have a merry Christmas. The officials were in the Husky back pocket the entire game. It just happened they came out at the worst possible moment if you happened to be rooting against the Cougars. A rule is a rule dumb or not. NCAA official Larry Farina responded "It is a celebration rule that we are required to call. It was NOT a judgment call". Jake Locker himself even admitted the error regarding his celebration penalty "throwing the ball in the air had part of emphasis during their practices". It is absolutely clear that it wasn't a little flick over his shoulder. Jay Drew SL tribune reporter was standing about 15 feet from Locker as it came to pass (no pun intended). From Drew's blog "...unless my eyes were deceiving me, it got some pretty serious altitude. He threw it 25-30 feet in the air with sort of a rolling the wrist motion that caused the ball to spiral".
Upon setting up for the PAT after the penalty the Husky offensive line flat out didn't block well and the Cougars were able to make the play when it counted. Sidenote if you look closely at the closing pick of #84 Jorgensen blocking the attempt you will also notice Husky lineman #76 Jordan White-Frisbee blantantly holding his jersey. Hmm. No penalty?
4 comments:
Great assessment.
This was a good game, and I would have liked to have seen it go to overtime, but the officials made the right call. It was a clear penalty, as outlined in the rule book, and the stripes called it.
And as far as I'm concerned, that call makes up for all the holding no-calls you mentioned in your post.
Adam-Mucho taco on the comment. This was a particularly harder post to write more than usual so as to avoid my personal bias.
I'm not opposed to personal bias in sports reporting because I have noticed as I have watched the analysis of the game on ESPN, it seems all the so called "professionals" lean on their biases. My thought is this- the year we won the championship we were disrespected and passed on the polls all season long. Maybe some of the '84 magic will rub off!
I feel the play is very bizarre. It sounds like the stripes had their fingers in the stink hole. But BYU is superior so it all turns out good for me.
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