Was the right call made?

by Jeremy Mauss on Sep 7, 2008 8:27 PM PDT

There is a buzz about the BYU slim victory over a medicore Washington Husky team. I will not get into the game and review it here that will come tomorrow in the full preview of week one, but the only thing I will say is that BYU's defense is not good at all in the passing game.

In the Bleachers posted what the new rule is for excessive celebration which is:

After a score or any other play; the player in possession immediately must return the ball to the official or leave it near the dead ball spot.

Locker did toss the ball up pretty high after he scored, and technically the ball was not handed to a ref or was it placed near the play, but his intent was not to rub it into BYU. The best place written about this call is ESPN's Pac-10 blogger Ted Miller.

The Spirit of that rule was completely betrayed by the call. And, oh by the way, smart officials have been ignoring it these first two weekends

Totally agree with Miller it was a celebration that was not intended to show up BYU, and yeah the kick was blocked and that technically was the reason did not go into over time. However, the distance moved the ball back from a near chip shot to a more difficult extra point that was now a 32 yarder, plus the influx in emmotions of a great score and now the low of a penalty.

Other things I have been hearing is from the Salt Lake Tribune Blogger Jay Drew who's quotes are quite humorous, and very pro BYU for a journalist who is supposed to cover the Cougars. A side tangent is that the Utah media is very soft and would ratther be buddy-buddy with the coaches and players then ask legit questions. Just look back at when the BYU freshman receiver, I forget his name, who was complaining about being so low on the depth chart and when local radio was asking him about it Bronco and other BYU coaches were getting very upsed and defensive about talking to him. Sorry about that, but here is Drew's quote.

...A nnouncers on the highlight shows are saying the ruling kept the game from going into overtime. Well, not exactly. The blocked PAT -- regardless of the length -- kept the game from going into overtime. I'm not sure the kick would have made it from the normal extra-point length.

Are you serious, Jay! Hate to be reptitive, but the extra point to tie the game at normal length was tough enough with two seconds, but toss in the extra 15 yards and the highs and lows of a good touchdown run by Jake Locker and then a penalty.

Congrats to BYU for getting the win and making the clutch block by Jan Jorgense, but COME ON the penalty takes the fun out of the game.

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Comments

Regardless of what you thought about the call, we can disagree (slightly) on that, the Mountain West has looked pretty good thus far. I would like to revoke either the ACC or Big East’s BCS bid and give it to the MWC. Utah, BYU and TCU would be a favorite in either of those conferences and pretty good in several other BCS conferences.

by Todd on Sep 8, 2008 6:10 AM PDT reply actions

Jeremy, Jeremy… c’mon buddy, now you’re nailing Drew for being pro BYU, when he said that the blocked kick won the game. You’re sounding awfully pro-UW right now too.

Yeah, it sucks for UW to lose that way, but I’m sick of hearing how BYU shouldn’t have won, how it was the call, which was RIGHT, I don’t care how much you want to bend that rule, Locker threw it in the air.

BYU didn’t ask for the flag to be thrown, but they did go out and block a clutch kick. Nobody is giving BYU credit for that, and to see BYU fall three spots for beating UW on the road with a nationally clouted Q in Locker, sucks, especially since BYU jumped up in the polls after beating a Div II opponent.

I would have loved to see them play it out in overtime, but it should not have ever been that close… Unga fumbling on the goal line for example. That’s a 14 point swing there. Not to mention how BYU had twice as many flags on them.

by skibjork on Sep 8, 2008 10:49 AM PDT reply actions

Drew should be more neutral then he is, just because he is a journalist and yeah sometimes they show who the root for that needs to be done minimally.

I never said that BYU should not have won, if it went to OT BYU’s offense would have been able to win in one, maybe two over times. They were the better team Saturday.

The thing about the polls is that they dropped 3 spots in the AP poll, but stayed the same in the coaches poll. The coaches poll is what matters for the BCS since the AP pulled out.

by Jeremy on Sep 8, 2008 1:35 PM PDT reply actions