The Anatomy of a Blown Call

The game is over and the heartbreak has set in as has the anger in NDNation.  And while a loss won’t be reversed, perception will play a large role in the selection of the committee in the first final four of college football.  That committee should be aware that the interference call that cost Notre Dame the game against Florida state was a blown call.

As the videos and still frames show, Prosise tried to run not just forward but inside away from Robinson (he was doing the opposite of trying to rub off the defensive back) and he was blocked and jammed by Jalen Ramsey who moved away from Robinson to jam Prosise  then grabbed Prosise’s jersey and yanked him forward and off balance.  At no time was he ever “restricted” from simply taking a step to his left to cover Robinson, in fact, he actively moved away from Robinson to jam Prosise. Here’s a view of both defenders moving away from Robinson to jam Notre Dame’s receivers. Both of these videos are crops from NDInsiders end zone video which you can find here.


Now, check out the frames. Look at the start of of the play and note the foot alignment.  Ramsey is squared up on Prosise with his feet on the hashmark and Prosise’s feet in the middle of the hashmark.  He’s dead focused on Prosise’s number (whom he thinks he needs to jam) and he is not paying any attention to Robinson.

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Now watch Ramsey’s arms and right foot.  He immediately looks to jam Prosise with his arms and initiates contact while  he moves his right leg backward squaring his shoulders away from where Robinson’s breaking.  If Prosise were “blocking” he would be running toward Ramsey and drive his arms towards Ramsey’s shoulders (as Ramsey is doing to him), but Prosise doesn’t do that.

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Instead, Prosise turns his shoulders to his left (away from where Robinson is heading) while Ramsey plants his right foot inside the hash to jam Prosise who’s running a slightly inside route (as we’ll see)

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As Ramsey jams Prosise he grabs his shoulders, at this point  they are both inside the hash (again both are moving AWAY from from where Robinson is going). Ramsey is not looking at Robinson nor making any attempt to chase him.  He’s putting all his effort into jamming Prosise’s route.  At this point, he has no chance to catch Robinson because he thought his assignment was to jam Prosise who’s moving inside.

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Here’s another look at Ramsey’s feet and Prosise’s feet, both of them are now inside the hashmark as both have moved away from Robinson.  Ramsey’s out of the play.  Game over.

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So Ramsey’s done (but not forgotten.)  Let’s go back to the other angle and focus on Fuller and Darby for a second. Fuller has taken a step to his right and his now slanting in (again away from Robinson) and Darby actually has an opportunity to take a step left and cover Robinson… or he can stay with Fuller.   If Darby goes with Robinson he still could make a play on Robinson and leave Fuller open as Fuller slants inside, but he doesn’t.  Instead, Darby moves two steps AWAY from Robinson in an attempt to impede Fuller’s inside move.  At this point, the only two defenders who had any shot at Robinson have moved the other way by their own choice.  Neither was  in any way restricted from moving left.  In fact, Ramsey is now grabbing Prosise’s jersey and can’t move left because, well, he’s holding on to Prosise.

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Keep watching on the next frame.  Darby now moves inside and has effectively taken himself out of the play. He had two yards of cushion to take a unimpeded step to the left, instead he went right and to try to stop Fuller. WSBT has an even more telling view of Fuller and Darby.

Now focus back on the Ramsey and Prosise.  Ramsey has jammed Prosise so hard to the inside that he forces Prosise backward (look at Prosise’s right foot, Ramsey is pushing so hard that me moves a 220 pound man backward) and on top of he’s now pulling Prosise’s jersey.  Both players are now inside the hashmark and Ramsey is blocking Prosise from getting into the endzone.   Williams (#26) is, again, hopelessly lost.  It’s at this point that Ramsey catches on that Robinson is the intended receiver, but it’s too late baby, it’s too late.

 

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Ramsey now yanks on Prosise’s jersey causing Prosise to lunge forward off balance.  At this point, Prosise isn’t blocking, his hands are down and he’s just stumbling forward as Ramsey pulls him back inside and down by his jersey.  The announcers think Fuller is blocking Darby, but what’s really happening is Darby is engaging Fuller to stop Fuller from his inside slant.  And we know this with certainty because Darby had to take two big sidesteps AWAY from Robinson to engage Fuller.  If Darby had moved toward Robinson, Fuller would have broken clean inside of him and there would have been no contact.  Darby was unrestricted; he chose to play Fuller.

 

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Ramsey yanks Prosise off balance who is now just trying to keep his footing. Darby, meanwhile, after moving two big sidesteps away from Robinson is holding Fuller who’s looking back at Golson.

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Prosise continues to stumble off balance as Robinson makes an easy TD grab fully enabled by Florida State defenders manically trying to jam the wrong guys.

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After the catch, Darby and Ramsey turn to each other and start arguing.

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They continue to argue over who blew the coverage when …

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PJ Williams gets involved, taking off his helmet (which is a clear penalty,) while Ramsey and Darby continue the “who’s at fault” debate.

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Jameis smiles (as he plots early entry into the NFL . )

 

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There was no offensive pass interference.  It wasn’t a rub play.   Florida State blew their coverage and they blew it so bad that a back judge (now with a history of anit-ND calls) primed by  Jimbo Fisher thought he could throw a flag. He also ignored the Florida State player who took his helmet off right in front of him. Then, for good measure, the same back judge (just one play later) called a Golson pass caught by a defender outside the back of the end zone an interception. It wasn’t; it was an incomplete. It should have been a touchdown with a 15 yard penalty assessed at the kickoff with 13 seconds left in the game.

71 thoughts on “The Anatomy of a Blown Call

    • I’m as Irish as any of us but it’s readily apparent from these screen caps that our receivers were intentionally blocking the defensive backs. You’re going way out of your way to paint a picture that doesn’t match the images. You can tell from the body postures and Fuller looking back at Golson while keeping his arms locked onto the corner that neither WR had any intention of running a route. It was blown coverage by FSU, but this one’s on Kelly for poor coaching or being arrogant in thinking he could get away with that forever.

      Also the FSU defensive back was clearly yelling at the ref for the penalty after the play, NOT the other defender. You can crop the photo to make it look otherwise but in the video it’s obvious.

        • If both DBS simply take a step to their left, neither receiver would touch them. They both move to their right (away from Robinson) to jam their receivers. They weren’t covering Robinson so they didn’t try.

          • There is an image above that supports this point as well. By my count, the seventh image down shows Darby with his hands up just as Fuller starts his inside cut on the slant with his hands still down.
            I don’t think there is any question that Prosise was jammed at the line and never really got his hands on Ramsey other than to maintain his balance.
            The reason it looks like ND is blocking is because Darby and Ramsey took themselves exactly where Kelly expected them to go and out of the play.

      • No way the FSU DB is yelling at the ref for a flag. Ramsey’s immediate reaction after the play is questioning Darby as to how they left the outside completely undefended. They are players arguing with each other. They knew they just blew the game.
        Look at the end zone view. There is no doubt Darby took the inside away from Fuller. He should have slid out to cover Robinson. Prosise is one the line and Ramsey has him in man press coverage. Ramsey is on Prosise like stink on skunkbear. Fuller and Robinson are in the backfield, the guess here is Darby has the outside zone and Williams has any inside route; this would help minimize the impact of rubs/picks. Williams makes nearly no attempt to get the outside.

      • Poor coaching and arrogant thinking ! My goodness. How could a man of such impulses be 6 and oh to begin
        begin with ? Maybe in your coaching experience, you only coach winning plays? Takes talent and insight, you know ! Oh my!

      • You are so completely wrong that it’s breathtaking. Are you masquerading as an ND fan and only over here on a frolic and detour from an FSU board? Nothing that you say even remotely appears in this series of photos. Stop trying so hard to bend over backwards and be “objective” that you lose all credibity.

    • I’ll go you one better, this was not only a blown call . . . it was blown on purpose. From what I can see viewing the play time and time again, at normal speed, slow motion and freeze frame, there is no doubt in my mind this was intentional and corrupt.
      First off, the call was made by the Back Judge (Pat Ryan) who at the time of the play was standing in the middle of the end zone. We know this because 1. He threw the flag and 2. He is seen giving his explanation to the Head Referee at the end of the play. Now if you watch the play you’ll see the Side Judge standing in the corner of the end zone and the Head Line Judge standing at the top of your picture at the sideline/ line of scrimmage intersection. If you watch these two referees you will see they were not only in much better position to make the call and made none but also were watching almost exclusively the play of the receivers and D backs, again their flags stayed in their pockets.
      Now if you watch the Back Judge you will see him, at the start of the play, watching the line play from the middle of the end zone. As there was no call to make on the O line (to his chagrin) he then turns his attention toward Golson, we know this because on a HD zoom you can detect his head movement. He then proceeds to fallow the thrown ball from Golson all the way to the receiver Robinson, again the head movement is obvious even without HD. He then follows Robinson into the end zone (this is obvious in stop motion HD) and not until Robinson crosses the goal line does he then turn his head and attention to the play of the receivers and D backs. The problem is that by this time all contact between the receivers and the D backs is “OVER”. This Back Judge could not have made the call based on the action because he NEVER SAW ANY OF IT!!! And the two referees that did see it, were in position and DID SEE THE ACTION, made NO CALL!!! The only thing that Pat Ryan had to base his call on were the complaints of the DB’s and nothing else.
      I’d be willing to bet that Pat Ryan’s family is from Northern Ireland . . . any takers ???

  1. Kinda reminds you of the call in ’64 in the Colosseum. There the West Coast refs called the penalty on a non-existent number/player. I had hoped that ND would receive better treatment from the ACC. GO IRISH!!

    • If you are referring to the “offensive” holding call in the 64 game, the player’s number did exist, except it was called on my sister-in-laws brother who was a starting “linebacker” for ND.

  2. It’s simply amazing how a normal TV viewer can catch all of this, but not the so-called unbiased refs! I sure hope our Irish take this blown call all the way with them to tha National Champoinship game! They came into Doak Stadium and played their hearts out and for what – a blown call with 13 seconds left in a game with National Title impact. We fans have your back, Irish, win out your season and bring that title home for you and Notre Dame!

  3. This was a bad call that will live in infamy like the phantom clipping call during Rocket’s punt return in the Orange Bowl. Anything that Prosise and Fuller did or didn’t do had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the play. The refs should let the players decide the outcome and should never be part of the story. Obviously, that didn’t happen and it cost the Irish a hard fought victory on the road against the defending national champs. I still can’t get over the unabashed ND hater Herbstreit praising the ref for having the “courage” to make the “right” call in such a “hostile” environment. What a complete and total buffoon.

    • HankcockCorby says:

      Not to mention the obvious PI on Darby on 2nd and goal on the Robinson jump ball….but then, the refs were “just letting the boys play”…..

  4. ND successfully fought FSU and the refs down the field on the last drive until they couldn’t win against the refs anymore since the final bad call was made on 4th down.

  5. These sideline views tend to diminish the extent to which Darby stepped inside to take the inside slant away from Fuller. It still looks a bit like Fuller is blocking Darby whereas the end zone view really shows Darby immediately jumped the inside slant and had no intention of trying to cover Robinson.

    The end result is we got called for a pick play where nobody got picked. 2 guys played their man, one got confused, stood there and then took his helmet off.

  6. Well, the said part is, all of that was identifiable to the untrained eye in the 8 or so seconds it took to occur.

    • Yes, thanks for pointing that out Chet. Is awesome article that sums it the travesty. Herbstreet, Fowler and everyone else that went out of their way to claim this was right call (to brain wash their followers) have lost all credibility. I’m emotionally past this now, let’s focus on Navy. Go Irish!

      • Glad to hear you are not Blue. Quote from LBJ: “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” Go Irish, beat Navy.

      • Mr. “The Buckley”. Don’t worry. Be happy. At least you won’t have the embarrasment of getting blown out by Bama again in the “Final Four” games.

    • That view completely exonerates Fuller (whom the foul was initially called on) and clearly shows Prosise (whom the foul was later attributed to) and Ramsey stepping away from Robinson’s path. Ramsey is making no attempt to cover Robinson and steps twice to his right, away from Robinson. Then grabs Prosise and yanks him.

  7. To further substantiate FSU jamming of our receivers on 4th down, please review the other plays in that last series. Defensive jamming was prevalent for greater than 5 yards down the field on those

  8. Nice Try – if ND receiver would have caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage no foul. DB;s blow coverages all the time but that isn’t a penalty – blocking down field with a forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage is. Give it up already.

    • Look again. Neither is “blocking” their hands aren’t up, they are trying fight through the FSU players who are both, again slowly, moving AWAY from Robinson to get in front of and jam Prosise and Fuller. If they were trying to move toward Robinson and if the offensive players engaged restricted them, that would a foul. Neither was restricted from moving left.

      • This guy, and the one at top, are sidestepping your points, and ignoring the evidence that Prosise (and Fuller and lots of other guys) weren’t blocking downfield. I’m kinda tired of hearing they should get flagged for not having a sign on their helmets screaming, “Look at this route I am running!”

        I am “over it,” in that I won’t discuss this in public anymore, but I do log in to NDN to be angry and commiserate (It’s only been half a week). I’m still so impressed with the way the Irish played, and that instead of looking at how the team might get into a bowl they don’t deserve, we’re looking at how they might get a shot at a playoff they clearly deserve (if the season ended today).

  9. I witnessed this on a loop the other day. It only makes me more mad. At this point I wish Robinson would have just dropped the ball. It would be easier to swallow than this crap. Instead he caught it and should be lauded as a hero. The Irish BEAT fsu even though it will never show up in the record book.
    Go Irish win em’ all and get your revenge on these punks!!!

    • yep that is what the scoreboard says thanks for the keen insight. you are not the zebra with a missing yellow flag from your pocket are you?

  10. Nice job with the screen shots. I honestly think the timing of the call is awful and that no ref should throw a flag there but I also can see both sides of the arguement for if in fact it was a PI. Here’s my two cents for what its worth. I think that as they lined up they new they had FSU in the perfect defense to run that play. I also think that Prosise and Fuller knew they needed to make sure that one of the FSU guys wouldn’t break off and make a miracle tackle on Robinson so I think that what really happened was the second Prosise was grabbed he just went with it and didn’t even think about turning or trying to sell himself as a possible receiver. Fuller did absolutely nothing wrong but I think Prosise went with it to much and simply should have realized if he just turned his head to look in Golson’s direction then the ref wouldn’t have been able to contemplate throwing the flag.

  11. I know that the game is over and that I/we need to move on, but I just need some clarification.
    If a pass is ruled uncatchable, the DB can practically mug the receiver and not be called for a penalty, but,
    If the DB (or DBs) make(s) (an) obvious decision(s) not to cover the receiver who eventually catches the pass
    *DB(s) can impede the progress of the other receivers that they elected to cover, and
    *If the other, covered receiver come in contact AT ALL with said DB or DBs, it is a penalty on the covered receiver?
    Is that what we all understand?

  12. Saying all of that ND got completely screwed by a ref that made himself the story instead of the game. If I had a dollar for everytime I was annoyed one of my teams should have drawn a penalty late in a game but the refs swallowed the whistle to prevent from being the deciding factor I would be retired already. Its a heartbreaking and the fact that the commentators/ pundits from around the country dont at least concede to the call being debatable is laughable. I just hope they dont let this linger like us fans or they will lose one of these last games. If they win out they will most certainly be in the final 4 which is all any of us could’ve ever hoped!

  13. If a ref is going to make a call like that to decide the outcome of a game, he cannot cherry pick and get only part of the call right as happened in this case. #26 took his helmet off, which is a personal foul according to the “rules.” After assessing the penalty against ND, the personnel foul would have been half the distance to the goal line and a first down for ND. That would have given ND at least two more plays inside the 10. The other two refs had a much better perspective of the play than the back judge. If this was such an obvious foul on ND, why didn’t at least one of the other two refs throw their flags? Perhaps the back judge did not consciously intend to be biased against ND, but given the circumstances, it certainly looks to be very suspicious and an apparent conflict of interest in this case. If your going to make a call like this to decide a game, you had better get it all right or just leave it alone. It’s what most refs would generally do including the other two refs in this game.

    • He got it right! You just don’t want to accept the fact that it was pass interference. The fact that it was on a play that you scored means absolutely nothing. You can’t set a rule aside because you’re ND and think that you’re the exception to every rule. ND has gotten away with favorable calls for their entire existence, but for once they were called on it and it just drives you domers crazy. You’re not special and you are governed by the same rules as everybody else, contrary to popular belief.

      • Did you watch the videos? What you call pass interference was your DBs intentionally jamming our receivers from running their routes. They both had to run away from Robinson to even get in the paths of Fuller and Prosise. Ramsey was the worst. After he realized he’d blown it, he then yanked Prosise by the Jersey. Watch the videos. Ramsey was holding Prosise.

      • Mr. Williams, perhaps you should re-read Dave’s comment. He is willing to concede the penalty on the ND receiver. What he is wondering is why the personal foul, for the FSU taking off his helmet on the field, was not called, despite being FAR more obvious than the aforementioned “penalty” on the ND receiver. Instead of throwing out tired, old platitudes in response to comments, please offer some thoughtful insight or step away from your keyboard. Dave is just asking for balanced work by the officials.

  14. I don’t think there’s any big confusion or mystery about who the penalty was called on. I think it was always intended to be called on Procise but the ref simply called out the wrong number. So no conspiracy there.

    But everything else you said is dead on. Regardless, I think that because of the blown coverage, whatever was going on with Fuller and Procise did not impact the play and at that juncture of a game like this, the refs have to keep the whistles and laundry in their pockets. It’s a shame.

  15. Although this analysis is somewhat persausive, the back judge did not see the play in slow motion from multiple angles, let alone analyze the routes and coverage scheme. He saw two receivers who appeared to be blocking their defenders, which is what most people saw when they watched the first replays. Maybe the interference was an illusion created by how the play unfolded, but that doesn’t mean the back judge made a bad call based on what he could see in real time.

    • The back judge was not looking at the receivers. His tasks were to watch the snap and then the clock starting and then the field. If look at the back judge in slow motion you will see that as soon as the ball was snapped, he put his right hand down on his flag and even through it before the ball was thrown. Had Golson run (it was a run option), he would have looked even sillier than he does know. It was clear that Jimbo Fisher had biased him by saying that ND picks from the bunch set. From the time we moved to the bunch set, he knew that he was going to throw his flag.

  16. By the way. If you go back to the entire last series, you will see Darby taking the slant away from Fuller. Doing the exact same thing here. He was coached to take the slant away, ND coaches saw that, and called this perfect play. FSU players picked themselves.

  17. The officials not calling a clear penalty on the player removing his helmet is utterly ridiculous. Also earlier in the game the FSU high stepped into the endzone. By the letter of the law that too should’ve been a penalty negating the rpuchdown. Completely incompetent crew and I hope none of them ever work a ND game again. Go work Duke vs NC State where no one cares.

  18. SEE,

    One edit for you — in the middle of the article you said “Here’s a clearer look at Fuller and Darby on WSBT.” But you just show another ESPN view. Perhaps you forgot to add the screenshot in?

    Thanks for pulling this together. Now you just need to get someone influence to read it.

  19. Terrible call PERIOD. Bloggers are correct-ACC refs were going to make sure one ACC team remains in the hunt, just like pollsters are doing with the Big 10 (MSU) and PAC-10(Oregon).

  20. What is so amazing is all these national experts that carried this clear pick message around for three days.This is clear cut .FSU got away with highway robbery.They were beaten on their homefield and a gutless coward took it away.Make no mistake,every FSU fan knows Notre Dame ended their streak.But the same clueless people who defend that school and the thug behind center call play make believe all they want.You lost!

  21. It’s time to move on. I hope this lights a fire under the team that carries them through the rest of the season. This team has every reason to hold their heads up high. They do not deserve special treatment, but they certainly deserve fair treatment. ND haters will do whatever they can to break the ND spirit, but they never will. Call it arrogance. Call it delusional. Call it whatever you want. We’ll be back. We are ND!

  22. JD in Portland says:

    What I find most ridiculous is that it took the ACC and its refs 3 days to decide which defender they even called the (non) pass interference on. Has this ever happened in football history?
    Also interesting that the changed the penalty from being on “#7” (Fuller) as the ref clearly called out to instead being on Prosise right after WTBS put a compelling piece on their web page showing that Fuller didn’t commit a penalty. Of course Prosise didn’t either.
    But good grief, the machinations the ACC now has to go through to defend themselves is only making their case even worse.
    Truly unbelievable.

  23. Fearless Flea says:

    All contact with the ND receivers was initiated by the FSU defenders. Two other videos, available online, from the sideline and from the back of the end zone, fully support this fact. AND, that is a FACT, not an opinion.The FSU DB’s stepped into the ND receivers to jam them. Their man to man package was a broken coverage. FSU 26, who was head up on ND 88, was caught inside by his own DB’s and was blocked by his own men. Kelly was correct in saying that FSU was rewarded for a broken coverage. The head of ACC officials ought to man up and state that his crew blew it. He’s too much of coward to do so. The NCAA’s Mr. Redding ought to do the same.

    By the way, the Fearless Flea knows well of what he speaks. The Flea was a walk-on defensive back in the Parseghian ERA of ARA.

  24. If it is so “readily apparent from these screen caps that our receivers were intentionally blocking the defensive backs” as NotreDomer alleges, why did the referee who was closest to the play immediately signal touchdown?

  25. Very well put together.
    Blown call and game over….If the Irish run the table they will be in the Final Four. When you look at the remaining schedules, the 2 Mississippi schools will get beat at least once. Auburn and Bama will also suffer a loss. ND will move up by beating L’ville, ASU, and USC and will remain good by beating Navy and NU. Maybe they can have the rematch in Dallas against FSU.

    • To Elaborate:
      Auburn has yet to play Alabama, Mississippi, GA, TX A&M and Samford (ha ha).
      Miss St has yet to play Ol Miss and Alabama.
      Florida State plays nobody, oh Florida (wide right)?
      Ol Miss has the aforementioned plus LSU and Presbyterian who I hear are pretty good.
      Alabama has the aforementioned plus LSU and dealing with the devil every time they
      look in the mirror.
      Oregon doesn’t play anybody…Oh yeah Stanford.
      MSU will find a way to lose…
      Then there is an SEC championship game.

      We can do this!

  26. RICK ROBINSON says:

    A PERFECT RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FINAL PLAY. NO BLOCKING OR PASS INTEREFERENCE BY NOTRE DAME. HOME CALL , BY BIASED ACC OFFICIALS. FLORIDA STATE O LINE WAS HOLDING ALL GAME, BUT ONLY ONE CALL WAS MADE. NO WONDER WINSTON HAD ALL DAY TO THROW IN THE SECOND HALF. THE IRISH WERE ROBBED, BOTTOM LINE!

  27. Been watching Irish football for 50 years. It has always been apparent that the Irish are not welcome and have to play cleaner and more professional than any team they are playing against. Why? I’ve never understood the bias. But we win Championships anyway and this year may be no different, except for the championship part. GO IRISH!!!

  28. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! I’m still in pain thinking about this. The so called experts calling this correct makes it even worse. They obviously don’t even want to examine the footage. Haters will hate and are gleeful about this, but the “experts” only show their bias. Great job ACC refs you still have your playoff contender. Mission accomplished.

  29. I wish the footage did show us commiting a foul then we could accept the loss for what it is. But we won and here we sit 6-1 with no promise that a 5-0 run will get us in the playoff

  30. IT IS A SHAME THAT THE OVERALL QUALITY OF OFFICIATING IN ALL SPORTS HAS SO RAPIDLY DIMINISHED. COLLEGE FOOTBALL OFFICIALS SHOULD BE ASSIGNED AT RANDOM FROM A NATIONAL POOL AND SCRAP THE COINFERENCE OFFICIAL SHAM THAT IT IS.