NCAA football, 2013-14

[grumbler]

... and beat the Michigan team that got Lloyd Carr fired...

When you say this kind of obviously false crap, you kinda ruin the effect of trying to sound like you know what you are talking about.  Carr retired under his own terms (it's hard to remember, considering his later actions, that he was the guy who picked rich Rodriguez to replace him) and remained a member of the athletic department staff for another four years.  The year he "was fired" according you you he was awarded the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.  Admittedly, that was a retirement gift and certainly not awarded for his accomplishments that year (his team got curbstomped by Oregon and Wisconsin that year), but they don't award that to guys who just got fired.

[MadBurgerMaker]

2006: Oklahoma, win (with a major asterisk)

Was this the one where the ref was digging around in the pile looking for the ball and then acted like Oregon had it and awarded it to the Ducks while a Sooner was standing behind him holding the ball?

[grumbler]

My bad, they were ranked #5 in 2007 at the time of TEH GREATEST UPSET IN NCAA HISTORY.

But yesterday was a far more important game.  Not the '92 SEC Championship, not even BC-Miami '84 wasn't as important, despite the presence of Bernie Joseph Kosar, Jr.

  ASU-UM was TEH GREATEST UPSET IN NCAA HISTORY THAT AFTERNOON.  BC-Miami was not am important game, given that the loss was Miami's fourth of five they would lose that year.  It was a great finish to a great game, but certainly isn't second or even third in terms of dramatic finishes to important games.  Yesterday was probably #1, depending on what comes out of it (i.e. unless Auburn stumbles against Missouri and the Crimson Tide gets back into the title game).   

[sbr]

2006: Oklahoma, win (with a major asterisk)

Was this the one where the ref was digging around in the pile looking for the ball and then acted like Oregon had it and awarded it to the Ducks while a Sooner was standing behind him holding the ball?

Yep. 

[CountDeMoney]

BC-Miami was not am important game, given that the loss was Miami's fourth of five they would lose that year.  It was a great finish to a great game, but certainly isn't second or even third in terms of dramatic finishes to important games.

Bernie Joseph Kosar Jr was on the field.  That made it important enough.

And besides, it sealed the Heisman for the Magic Flutie.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Yep. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  It's great that Oklahoma got hosed like that, but I just can't figure out how they came to the conclusion that Oregon had the ball when the thing wasn't in the pile they were looking at to begin with.

[Valmy]

2006: Oklahoma, win (with a major asterisk)

Was this the one where the ref was digging around in the pile looking for the ball and then acted like Oregon had it and awarded it to the Ducks while a Sooner was standing behind him holding the ball?

Yep. 

That was hilarious and right after the refs gave Texas Tech about two feet on a fourth down spot late the previous season.  The Okies were sure the refs had some sort of anti-Sooner conspiracy going on

[grumbler]

Yep. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  It's great that Oklahoma got hosed like that, but I just can't figure out how they came to the conclusion that Oregon had the ball when the thing wasn't in the pile they were looking at to begin with.

That's a tough call to make, but the point isn't who ended up with the ball after the scrum was over, but rather who had possession when the whistle was blown.  There can't be a change of possession after the whistle because a Sooner player took control of the ball at that point.  Generally, though, you are right that in football, like life possession is nine-tenths of the law. Still, I can see the refs deciding that Oregon had possession when the whistle blew.

More mysterious are calls like the USC phantom touchdown, when Charles White had clearly, on film, lost the ball on the two-and-a-half yard line, and a Michigan player immediately fell on it.  White didn't have the ball, but got the TD call anyway, and there was no review back then.

[MadBurgerMaker]

That's a tough call to make, but the point isn't who ended up with the ball after the scrum was over, but rather who had possession when the whistle was blown.  There can't be a change of possession after the whistle because a Sooner player took control of the ball at that point.  Generally, though, you are right that in football, like life possession is nine-tenths of the law. Still, I can see the refs deciding that Oregon had possession when the whistle blew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dSIykYoM260

Watch 23 white.  When the whistle blows, you can see where the ball is because he grabs it.   Look at the Umpire digging in the pile (where there is no football), come out, and award possession to Oregon.  In the other angles, you can see it was underneath an OU player, but loose, before 23 picked it up (also that it didn't go 10 yards).  They even reviewed that and gave it to Oregon after incorrectly concluding that an OU player touched it first, and.......Oregon had it????  Except Oregon didn't have it, and Oregon touched it first.  Hilariously bad call.

E:  "Conclusive video evidence"     Suck it, Stoops.

[Admiral Yi]

Wow.  You can kinda make the case that #15 Ducks had possession for a bit and was down by contact before it squirted out (though I wouldn't) but Helen Keller would have made the right call on Ducks touching before 10 yards.

[MadBurgerMaker]

OU lost, so it worked out nicely.

[Berkut]

I was going to watch that replay again, but it gives me nightmares.

[grumbler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dSIykYoM260

Watch 23 white.  When the whistle blows, you can see where the ball is because he grabs it.   Look at the Umpire digging in the pile (where there is no football), come out, and award possession to Oregon.  In the other angles, you can see it was underneath an OU player, but loose, before 23 picked it up (also that it didn't go 10 yards).  They even reviewed that and gave it to Oregon after incorrectly concluding that an OU player touched it first, and.......Oregon had it????  Except Oregon didn't have it, and Oregon touched it first.  Hilariously bad call.

E:  "Conclusive video evidence"     Suck it, Stoops.

That's a lot clearer than I remembered seeing.  A badly blown call on the 10 yards thing, and an inexcusably bad job by the replay official on both the 10 yards and the possession.

[MadBurgerMaker]

That's a lot clearer than I remembered seeing.  A badly blown call on the 10 yards thing, and an inexcusably bad job by the replay official on both the 10 yards and the possession.

You know, there was a Youtube comment (I know I know) under this video saying that this happened in the first year the Pac 10 had instant replay, and so a much more limited number of camera angles were available to the replay official.  I don't know if that's true or not, but it might explain how they missed the, to us, blatantly obvious 10 yard call.

[Berkut]

I am not really surprised at the 10 yard call being missed.

In realtime, this happens incredibly fast, and judging where exactly the ball is when it is in flight is incredibly hard. There are a LOT of things happening in your field of view, all within a split second.

This is MUCH harder than judging, for example, if the ball crossed the goal line in possession.

How they miss it in replay I am not sure...