Thoughts About Officiating in 2008 BYU/Washington College Football Game
At the end of the 4th quarter, BYU was leading 28-21 with about 3 minutes left in the game. Jake Locker and the Huskies took the ball all the way down the field to about the 3 yard line with a first down. On 3rd down, Locker scrambled for a touchdown and threw the ball over his head and began celebrating with his teammates. The officials called an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty on him, which was a 15-yard penalty for the extra-point kick. This meant the kick was a 35 yarder, which the BYU Cougars blocked (partially because it was a longer kick). BYU was then called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but it didn’t really matter.
The TV commentators on DirecTV complained a lot about the call saying this should not decide the game. I agree with them that you hate to see the game lost on a call by the officials. But here’s another way to look at it. From what I could tell, the Pac-10 officials called only 2 penalties the entire game on Washington. The first one was in the fourth quarter and actually favored Washington because it kept them from a fumble. The second one was this last penalty. Bronco Mendenhall (BYU’s coach) said to an interviewer at the end, “the rules are the rules” and that there were many plays that could have gone either way that went Washington’s way.
Some have complained that Pac-10 officials shouldn’t officiate at Pac-10 home games, but that’s their policy. I personally think the officials did a nice job on the officiating. But it’s hard to believe Washington could have only broken two rules the entire game for penalties. So they were very fortunate. In response to Mendenhall’s statement, it really does come down to the rule, which states,
“After a score or any other play, the player in possession immediately
must return the ball to an official or leave it near the dead-ball spot.
This prohibits…(c) Throwing the ball high into the air.” (see here)
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September 6th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I think that it was a horrible call and it is a horrible rule. I think that you should let the kids celebrate a good play in an appropriate way. I don’t think it should be a black and white rule…there needs to be some judgement.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:36 am
It was pretty clear-cut to me. Locker threw the ball about 15-20 feet in the air. I think any ref should have called that unsportsmanlike conduct. It doesn’t mean the rule is a good one, but the call was correct. In the end, BYU blocked a long extra point that UW should have made. They weren’t even close to getting the ball in the air. How often do you see a field goal blocked? Even if the game had gone to overtime UW would have had a hard time winning because they couldn’t stop BYU and barely got that last touchdown. The only argument for UW is that they could have gone for two instead of the extra point, but rules are rules, whether it’s the last play of the game or not.
I thought overall the officiating was pretty good, but I think they made some bad calls too. The “late hit” against BYU was a bad call. Locker was still just in bounds when he was hit. There were also some missed holding and blocking in the back calls when Locker was scrambling. Refs aren’t perfect, but in this game I definitely think BYU deserved to win.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
In the sports-blog-o-sphere, the commentators hated the rule. I agree with Jason…let them play, unless it is clearly taunting…what was wrong with the old rules in this regard?
September 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I stand by my position that there was no room for judgment on this play. He clearly broke a (questionable) rule that had been a point of emphasis for the refs this year, regardless of his intention to taunt. I think refs have to make judgment calls all the time because few things are black and white in football, but how much more difficult would it be as a referee to try to judge someone’s intentions or consider the potential downstream effects of a call in the short span of time they have to throw a flag or not.
As I said in my post, lots of calls could have gone BYU’s way that didn’t. For example, here’s a picture of the blocked PAT that illustrates a hold that wasn’t called. http://www.cougarboard.com/nologin/message.html?id=4000116.