College Football, 2021-22

[Berkut]

I don't complain about officiating much.

And I don't want to blame Arizona losing on a bad call. They did not stop Washington all night.

The Arizona OL (poor) against the Washington DL (decent), and the Arizona DL (terrible) against the Washington OL (pretty good) is why Arizona lost this game.

But....

Arizona did not get stops muc all night. But they battled and scrapped and fought. They came back from being down 14-0 to tie it in the first, and went into the second half down 21-14. Washington scored three more time in the 3rd, to make it 42-31. Arizona somehow battled back to close it to 31-42, scored and got the 2 point conversion to close it to 39-42 with about 10 minutes left in the game

Washington marches back down the field, and on 1st and 10 rushes for no gain. 2nd and 10, throw a screen, IIRC, and get tackled for a loss of 1. 3rd and 11, and Penix, who had all night to throw, and took advantage of it, throws deep down the seam, but overthrows his received by about 4 or 5 yards. Holy shit. Arizona got a stop. Oh wait.....here comes the flag. Defensive holding. 1st and 10. They score on the next play.

Replay shows that there was no holding. The Arizona corner had his arm along the waist, but there was no restriction at all. I can understand why the BJ probably thought he saw holding, but it was definitely not there. He is going to get downgraded on that call.

Such a critical moment in the game. I am sure that BJ is about ten times the official I ever was, which is why he is doing games where he is, and I am....not. But that was just a killer, killer error at such a critical moment.

Sigh.

[Berkut]

There was another odd, and critical play in the game. 

Arizona is down at the Washington end of the field late. It is 4th and about 2, and they are going for it. This was at the end of the 3rd quarter, and Arizona is fighting back, down 24-42 I think.

So again, it's like 4th and two and 15 yard line going in. 

deLaura takes the shotgun snap, turns, and pitches it to the running back, pretty clear lateral, he bobbles the ball, drops it, then scoops it back up, and runs to the stick, going out of bounds right at the first down marker. The line judge blows his whistle, and signals an incomplete pass.* Turnover on downs, Washingtons ball 1st and ten at the 15 or so.

Now, it seemed pretty clear it was lateral. But he calls it incomplete, so Washington is going to get the ball at the 15.

Oh wait, they are going to review it! Yeah!

After review, they confirm that it was a backward pass. However, by rule, since it was blown incomplete, so it cannot be advanced. So the result of the review is that Arizona doesn't get the first down, OR an incomplete pass, and Washington gets another 5 yards out of the deal! So now it is 1st and 10 for Washington at the 19 instead! They gained yards on the review, which went in Arizona's favor!


*-Having been a head linesman before I moved to referee, this is actually a tough play to officiate. On 4th and short, you are going to immediately move to the line to gain to make sure you get a good spot, but a pass to your side behind the LOS is your call, and that can be very hard to see an angle on from 10 yards down the field. And we were taught that when in doubt, it is a incomplete pass. However, we did not have replay, and my understanding with replay is that now when in doubt, it is backward/lateral pass, since that, if you get it wrong, can be fixed, while if you blow it dead for an incomplete pass, that cannot be fixed really (since the defense will stop when the whistle blows).

[Admiral Yi]

Vols over Tide.  Wow.

[grumbler]

Tennessee fans waited longer for that win over Alabama than Michigan fans did over Ohio State.  All the ones I know had basically reconciled themselves to it never happening again.  And this was not one of those "Alabama overlooked them" kinds of Alabama losses. 

Plus, it was just a great game all-around.  Alabama got a bullshit call, and was sloppy with the penalties, but the back-and-forth momentum almost seemed scripted.  I'm never going to not be happy Alabama lost, but my hat is off to them for the grit they showed in this game.

[Valmy]

Everything was set up for Tennessee to destroy Bama, which seemed to just barely be surviving most of the season. Instead Bama gave them all they could handle. Shots fired at the rest of the SEC West I guess.

Tennessee still has to somehow get past UGA. Good luck to them.

[grumbler]

How far has Notre Dame sunk?  Of the three teams that have beaten them, only one has a second P5 victory.  They are going to lose some prime recruits.

[grumbler]

Huh.  So, every week a company called Pro Football Focus does a detailed breakdown of every pro and Div 1 game and player, grading them for fantasy football league results (it has a pay site with the results).  Michigan's offensive line spearheaded a rushing attack that totaled 418 yards against the sixth-best run defense in the country.  The team averaged 7.6 yards per carry.  Pulling centers and guards were wiping out linebackers.  PFF rated them a 58.  58 must be good, right? 

No.  60 is an average game by an average line.

Wow, so Penn State's line must have gotten a terrible grade.  Other than a 60-yard quarterback keeper that was all scheme, the line delivered the runners for 2.1 YPC.  No successful pulls.  Their grade:  64.

What.  the.  fuck?

You just gotta laugh when you see something that bizarre.  What game could they have been watching?

[grumbler]

Here's an interesting chart from some outfit called "StatsoWar that might shed some light on what's happening thi8s season.  Lok at where Illinois is!

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, I'm not into it but the Pro Football Focus ratings are really big among people I know who gamble heavily on college sports. I think there's a few other sites with similar products and the hardcore gamblers pay for all of them.

[grumbler]

So, after the 29-7 Michigan beat-down on Sparty, some Sparty players found M receiver Andrel Anthony by himself in the tunnel, and
https://twitter.com/i/status/1586555477319614464

How is it possible that
1.  These fucking morons think that wearing masks will protect them when they are wearing fucking numbers that identify them, and
2. That fucking program has any fans.  They've been thugs since Dantonio arrived in 2006 and they are thugs today.
3.  Fucking Matt Charbaneau can dismiss this gang assault (beating the guy to the ground and then kicking him from all directions) as a "scuffle."  Shitty sports coverage gives you shitty fans.

[OttoVonBismarck]

The beat down is pretty reprehensible but in re "why does MSU have any fans", I don't understand why a hypothetical MSU fan would care about bad behavior? As far as I can tell bad behavior has been hilariously normalized in the last 30 years of college sports.

Coaches constantly committing low grade sexual offenses, getting either a wrist slap or at worst spending a season in the woods followed by another high profile hiring.

Teams blatantly paying players back before NIL legalized it--and some being rewarded with National Championships that were never taken back (hi Cam Newton and Auburn.)

Coaches not bothering to tell their current team they've taken a new job for more money until half-heartedly remembering to call them via group conference call from the plane out of town.

Coaches defending assistants for any range of things, including allegations of sexual improprieties with minors, beating their wives etc.

Coaches making excuses for, or minimizing known pedophiles or sexual abusers associated with the athletics department something that sadly we know about for four big 10 powers albeit not all in football--Ohio State (wrestling), Michigan State (Larry Nassar), Michigan(Robert Anderson) and Penn State (Sandusky).

I dunno, I still enjoy watching college football, but I retain almost none of the sepia toned sentimentality for it that I may have had many years ago. Even the service academies which aren't quite as polluted by the cash and professionalization of the sport have had a number of serious scandals around their sports teams in the last 20 years.

It frankly feels like big time sports brings out the worst in basically the entire country, and there's almost no limit to the number of people who are associated with big time sports who will cover up, minimize, or excuse any level of terrible thing if it services the interests of their sports team.

A gang beat down of a essentially defenseless person is a crime--the MSU players should be prosecuted. But it doesn't materially change the moral weight I assign to the various teams, because I assign almost none. These are teams with professional coaches who care almost exclusively about their own careers, Athletic Directors who care almost exclusively about department revenue and booster service, and players who are now entirely mercenary to the core. This is minor league pro football but without anything like a commissioner to keep it on the rails.

[grumbler]

Oh, and here's what happened to the next Michigan player that came down the tunnel:
a worse assault:  hitting the M player in the head swinging a helmet

[grumbler]

Here's a stat that tells you something about the Michigan defensive staff and their ability to adjust:  Michigan in the last 4 games has outscored their opponents 100-3 in the second half.

[Valmy]

Here's a stat that tells you something about the Michigan defensive staff and their ability to adjust:  Michigan in the last 4 games has outscored their opponents 100-3 in the second half.

Texas sucks in the second half. Boy are they amazing in the first half though. They would be right there in the playoff hunt if they could play well in the second half.

[Berkut]

Arizona's defense is much more consistent, sucking in both halves.