USF-Rutgers aka College Football Week 8

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by General Mike

Rutgers doesnt want to win.

Apparently neither does USF.

[ISiddiqui]

yeah... the game is there for the taking... does anyone want it?

[ISiddiqui]

Crap, holding! And Teel made a very nice pass there.

[JetsIn06]

Big, big penalty.

[Lathum]

considering some of the spots RU has been put in the defense has been awesome

[Lathum]

another stupid delay of game call

[Lathum]

HUGE SACK!!

[JetsIn06]

WHAT. A. SACK.

WOOOOO!!

[Young Drachma]

Last. Play.

[JetsIn06]

Announcer is right. Dumb spike there.

[Young Drachma]

Oh geez...what's the call now?

[JetsIn06]

WOW

[Young Drachma]

Oh ok.

[JetsIn06]

More trickery coming up?

[wade moore]

Really - for me - the game is about this moronic QB taking WAY too many sacks that he shouldn't have.

[Galaxy]

I don't know about that penalty. He did touch him lightly, but it didn't look like a "push".

What a dumb quarterback.

[Young Drachma]

And...the sea of red converges.

[wade moore]

Well, at least we can get the Big East out of the NC discussions now

[Neon_Chaos]

done.

[ISiddiqui]

Rutgers ball... and 50 seconds left.

[Galaxy]

Why a Hail Mary play?

[Galaxy]

Is Rex Grossman/J.P Losman playing quarterback tonight?
Two quarterbacks this year (the backup qb at Cal) have cost their teams a shot at the title.

[k0ruptr]

didnt they learn anything from the Fiesta Bowl, the hook and ladder wins there

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Well, at least we can get the Big East out of the NC discussions now

Well, West Virginia and USF only have 1 loss... and I'm thinking at least one of the two teams will have one loss .

[Young Drachma]

At least they won.

[astrosfan64]

Good Game, terrible call by the ref on the push off.

Glad Rutgers won, though its bad for the big east.

Actually, since the SEC can use the excuse of we are so good can't the big east?

When Auburn beats LSU this week all will be right in the world.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well, West Virginia and USF only have 1 loss... and I'm thinking at least one of the two teams will have one loss .

But let's face it - right or wrong a 1-loss BE team is going to slip quite a bit compared to 1-loss teams in the other conferences.

[GoSeahawks]

Was that Offensive PI illegitimate?

[Young Drachma]

Looked clear to me that he pushed off.

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by GoSeahawks

Was that Offensive PI illegitimate?

It should of been a no call and I really wanted Rutgers to win.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by wade moore

But let's face it - right or wrong a 1-loss BE team is going to slip quite a bit compared to 1-loss teams in the other conferences.

While true, WVU is 9. If they go undefeated all the rest of the way (may be difficult), they have a shot.

[General Mike]

The offensive pass interference was the right call.

[TargetPractice6]

It looked like he pushed off to me. And you can't give him a free pass because of the situation because they took what would have been a critical first down away from Rutgers too.

[GoSeahawks]

I have watched it over and over on tivo, but I don't see that it was PI. It looked like it should have been a no call.

[cartman]

I really didn't see the path or momentum of the defender be affected on the play. It could have been a makeup call for the borderline holding call on the Rutgers series before.

[bhlloy]

I thought he pushed off clearly. It was a weak push, but you can't really factor that into the call.

[Doug5984]

He clearly had his hands on the defender, and it appeared to be a pushing motion- now I agree there seemed to be no force behind the push, but you have to make that call- if it isn't made then there would have been a huge uproar over the non call when he clearly had a pushing motion with his arms (again, even though there seemed to be no force behind the push).

This was a nice game for LSU- now all we have to do is win out, and we should be back in the National Championship game, although winning out will be very tough considering how bad Flynn has been playing (imo), and the very tough schedule left.

[Logan]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo

Originally Posted by astrosfan64

Fake FG, I can't believe SF didn't expect that. Schiffano does crazy crap like that all the time.

Maybe Schiffano does shit like that all the time, but Schiano doesn't. I believe the number of fakes he's attempted during his 6.5 year tenure, prior to tonight, was one.

Originally Posted by wade moore

They rushed TWO with a spy that eventually came in and he gets sacked and doesn't THROW IT AWAY?!

Good god.

See, I was being conservative in the other thread when I said he makes 2-4 terrible decisions per game. Unfortunately for us, many of those long distances they needed to convert because of his inability to throw the ball away were easily achieved because of his pure athletic ability.

Obviously in the end it was all worth it, but boy was this a frustrating game to be at. As someone said, it was if we didn't want to take the win. The long conversions, Timmy Brown's two muffed returns, a personal foul call when we're down at the goalline, blocked FG, that ridiculous 4th quarter offense, Ray fumbling, etc. Whatever, good win that we desperately needed.

[k0ruptr]

Kansas, BC, Ohio St, Hawaii and Arizona St. are the only undefeated teams left.

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Doug5984

He clearly had his hands on the defender, and it appeared to be a pushing motion- now I agree there seemed to be no force behind the push, but you have to make that call- if it isn't made then there would have been a huge uproar over the non call when he clearly had a pushing motion with his arms (again, even though there seemed to be no force behind the push).

This was a nice game for LSU- now all we have to do is win out, and we should be back in the National Championship game, although winning out will be very tough considering how bad Flynn has been playing (imo), and the very tough schedule left.

The East is much stronger than the West this year and, more importantly, the rest of our schedule doesn't have an offense anywhere close to Kentucky or Florida. Auburn is always a battle and Bama will be emotionally charged, but I think the toughest part of LSU's schedule is over with. We should win all of our conference games from this point out. I guess I'm not nearly as concerned as you are.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Man, I'm all psyched up about Mizzou's game this weekend. They're playing Texas Tech on ABC (regional) at 2:30 for those that are interested. With all of the incomplete passes during this game, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4+ hour game. The #1 offense in the nation vs. the #5 offense in the nation. Should be a track meet.

[Ksyrup]

I saw bits and parts of this game last night, most importantly the overturned USF TD, and I'm surprised that play didn't generate more discussion in this thread. I was playing cards with the sound down on the TV, so I didn'tget to hear the discussion of how/why that play was reviewable. But I'm stunned that it was reviewable.

To me, determining intent on whether a fumble was an illegal lateral or not should not be a reviewable play. That's no different, IMO, than reviewing a play and determining there was pass interference or holding after the fact. It should have been called on the field, and whatever the judgment of the refs was during the play, that should have been the call they went with.

Now, again, I didn't hear the discussion of this, so can someone fill me in - why was this reviewable? Ironically, as it happened in real time, I thought it was a no-doubt illegal lateral that should have been flagged immediately, but then when I watched the replay, I didn't think there was enough evidence of an obvious intent to throw the ball forward and that the original non-call should have been upheld.

So I think they got it wrong twice. But I'm still at a loss for why they reviewed the play to begin with. Assuming that it's one of the scenarios that is definitively allowed to be reviewed, my question is why? What makes this different than other judgment calls that are off-limits? Because that's what this is - a judgment call as to the fumbler's intent. I don't get it at all.

[Lathum]

I don't remember what they said about why it was reviewable but I am glad they did because the important thing is they got the call right.

[Ksyrup]

But you could say that about game-changing pass interference calls, too. We dont' review those to make sure that even obvious calls or non-calls are right. Like I said, my initial reaction to the play was that it should have been an obvious flag. Under the review standards, though, I thought there was enough doubt as to whether the defender started to knocked the ball out with his left hand and hit the guy's right arm causing the ball to fly forward, that I don't think the original call should have been overturned.

But apart from whether the call was right or not, I'm really more interested in how this play is reviewable, but other judgment calls are not.

[gstelmack]

Man was I disappointed, but the key difference was Rutgers played smart, South Florida did not.

On the overturned TD, I agreed with the announcers that if you overturned either of those, it had to be the first, because on the second you can clearly see the defender punching for the ball from behind and getting his arm. I don't see how you call that on the return guy. The first one was much more borderline, but at least you could make a case that he tried to shovel it instead of really pick it up as he was falling forward.

On the PI, I think it was clear the refs were calling the game VERY tight. The excessive celebration call on USF in the endzone where he threw the flag even before the guys bumped chests; I mean almost nothing had happened. The "hit out of bounds" where the guy was still running upfield and had barely crossed over when he got a light shove. The holding call on Rutgers. Etc. I think in most cases it isn't called, and in fact more typically that's interference on the DB for undercutting the route (the DB pulled up in front of him while the receiver was trying to run under it with the defender not even looking for the ball; see: DEN/NED playoff game two years ago). But at least they consistently called it very tight.

Fundamentally, this was a tale of two halves. In the first half, USF receivers kept dropping balls, and this carried over into the early part of the second half. In the second half, Grothe started taking TERRIBLE sacks when he should have been throwing it away. And yes, the spike was a HORRENDOUS decision, you can't throw away a down in that situation, especially right after losing 12 yards. I also think you can't punt on 4th-and-15 on the series before and were VERY lucky they got the ball back for one last shot.

USF did a great job in keeping Rice from beating them and shut down Teel in the process except for the long TD where they just blew the tackle. Special teams play was up-and-down but averaged out. The offense just could not get anything going consistently.

Fundamentally, Rutgers played smart, USF didn't, and Rutgers stole the game away. It was there for the taking and USF could not take it. Good game, Rutgers.

[miked]

How did USF keep Rice from beating them? He ran for 180 yds and kept a few big drives going. Sure his average wasn't very high, but that's because Rutgers ran Rice every play in the final 10 minutes when everyone knew he was just trying to jam it up the middle for a few yards and keep the clock going.

The PI was questionable, but so was the hold. The late hit out of bounds was not. It wasn't a light shove when he was 1 step out. The guy popped him after the RU player took a few steps out. Also, I thought the drops weren't really a problem in the first half as Grothe was like 9 of 12 going into the locker room. The 3rd Q was when the drops hit and I think it's just because the whole rhythm was off with the constant RU pressure.

It was a great game, I think the calls pretty much canceled out and football decided the outcome.

[Swaggs]

I would agree about not letting Rice beat them. He played his role, but Rutgers won that game with great defense, a great individual play by Underwood (the long TD where he got hit hard, but kept going after the catch), and some ballsy calls by Schiano on special teams.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Man, I'm all psyched up about Mizzou's game this weekend. They're playing Texas Tech on ABC (regional) at 2:30 for those that are interested. With all of the incomplete passes during this game, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4+ hour game. The #1 offense in the nation vs. the #5 offense in the nation. Should be a track meet.

Incomplete passes? Harrell doesn't throw many of those...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by miked

The PI was questionable, but so was the hold. The late hit out of bounds was not. It wasn't a light shove when he was 1 step out. The guy popped him after the RU player took a few steps out.

I was at the game so maybe my view wasn't great, but even on the replay I thought Brown had barely gotten a foot out of bounds when he got knocked down. I thought it was a very generous call...his lack of size really helps when it comes to stuff like that.

Can't believe I forgot to mention that clock kill. Let's just say that when the visitors do that, and the crowd starts cheering wildly, it probably wasn't the best idea.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Incomplete passes? Harrell doesn't throw many of those...

Well, when each team is going to throw 45-50 passes, there's going to be a good portion of incompletions.