Alabama’s Terrence Cody blocked a Tennessee field goal as time expired and in the wild celebration that followed the big guy took off his helmet. Gary Danielson, who covered the game for CBS, wondered if it should have been an unsportsmanlike violation because it happened while the ball was still live. Kiffin was convinced that it was and said publicly that the refs had missed it.
Well, the refs didn’t miss it. The way the rule is written, even if a penalty had been called (which it shouldn’t be in that situation), it would have been marked off on the next play and not the previous play. The ball belonged to Alabama after the blocked kick.
"That’s a case where the rule is pretty clear," said [SEC supervisor of football officials Rogers] Redding. "Even if there had been time left on the clock, the ball would have belonged to Alabama. And if a penalty had been called, it would still be Alabama’s ball after the penalty was enforced."
It looks like Coach Kiffin is wrong about this one.
Time for conferences to get out of the officiating business | Mr. College Football
24 days ago
rustytanton
16 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Good grief
The way the rule is writting states that a player cannot remove his helmet during the course of a play. There isn’t an asterisk that says “expect if it’s the last play of the game”. Nobody with any sense will tell you that if they had thrown a flag, the outcome would have been different, but you don’t selectively enforce rules based on what impact it will have on the outcome. I’ve watched a lot of football over the years and seen plenty of flags thrown on the last play despite the impact it had on the outcome. Kiffin is right, that it is a penalty, and the officials should call the games from beginning to end. I believe he said it to serve as an example of what he thought was poor officiating.
Plus, Kiffin wouldn’t be blasting them in public if he thought he could get an adequate response from the SEC. It would have to be terribly blatant that a call impacted the game (like the celebration call on UGA) for the SEC head of officiating to publicly apologize. So quoting him in some AJC blog isn’t substantive proof that “Coack Kiffin is wrong”.
by golfballs03 on Oct 27, 2009 10:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Throw the flag and then explain!
That’s all I would have wanted.
Just throw the flag, then explain to the world why Tennessee doesn’t get to kick again.
I honestly doubt if the officials would have applied the rules correctly. I think they would have allowed the Vols to kick again, if they only had the stones to drop the yellow hankie in that situation.
I wouldn’t have wanted to beat Bama that way, so I’m glad it didn’t happen.
Throw the flag.
See the penalty…throw the flag…tell us what should happen.
It would have saved a lot of bandwidth this week.
by spiritofthehill on Oct 27, 2009 10:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
but ... but ...
bandwidth is good for us!
Use moar pls! kthxbai.
by Hooper on Oct 27, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
So what you’re saying is that you wish they’d have thrown the flag in the hope that they would have incorrectly applied the penalty and given UT another play?
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
by Zoltar on Oct 27, 2009 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No
He actully said the opposite of that:
I wouldn’t have wanted to beat Bama that way, so I’m glad it didn’t happen
But, if it’s rule, it’s a rule.
That would actually have looked very good for the officiating IMO if they had thrown the flag and then waved it off just to show everybody that “yeah, we know the rules and we’re not missing a thing”. Might’ve helped discourage some of the anger at SEC officiating going on.
I told you we would beat Georgia!! Now, as for those 9 wins in '09......
I got bored and made a blog!! SCS
by VolBrian on Oct 27, 2009 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well, he seems to be a conflicted because talking about how tennessee would have gotten another kick could only be described as wishful thinking. I thought you guys were convinced that the refs were in it for Alabama and Florida? But here he is saying that they would have cheated for you!
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
by Zoltar on Oct 27, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just for clarification
Allow me to quote his post in entirity so you can see you are wrong:
Throw the flag and then explain! That’s all I would have wanted.
Just throw the flag, then explain to the world why Tennessee doesn’t get to kick again.
I honestly doubt if the officials would have applied the rules correctly. I think they would have allowed the Vols to kick again, if they only had the stones to drop the yellow hankie in that situation.
I wouldn’t have wanted to beat Bama that way, so I’m glad it didn’t happen.
Throw the flag.
See the penalty…throw the flag…tell us what should happen.
It would have saved a lot of bandwidth this week.
by spiritofthehill on Oct 27, 2009 10:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
No “wishful thinking” in there at all. As a matter of fact, the point of his post is that the refs might have screwed up and allowed Tennessee to rekick, but then he says:
I wouldn’t have wanted to beat Bama that way, so I’m glad it didn’t happen
The overall point of this is to just call the penalty and then wave it off, so we all see there is no ambiguity.
I told you we would beat Georgia!! Now, as for those 9 wins in '09......
I got bored and made a blog!! SCS
by VolBrian on Oct 27, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And this statement is jumping to conclusions Zoltar
I thought you guys were convinced that the refs were in it for Alabama and Florida?
Lane Kiffin merely alluded to the idea that Bama and Florida seem to be getting the benefit of bad calls this season as a whole. Not just the blocked kick
That is just the way things look when teams go undefeated in the toughest league in the country. See Tennessee in 1998.
I told you we would beat Georgia!! Now, as for those 9 wins in '09......
I got bored and made a blog!! SCS
by VolBrian on Oct 27, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I left out that nobody here has proposed the conspiracy idea....
I told you we would beat Georgia!! Now, as for those 9 wins in '09......
I got bored and made a blog!! SCS
by VolBrian on Oct 27, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's called reading...
…top to bottom, left to right. Group words together as a sentence.
Take Tylenol for any headaches. Midol for any cramps.
If I’m saying anything, it’s that I have no confidence that if the officials had thrown the flag that SHOULD HAVE BEEN THROWN, that they would have applied the rules correctly at that point.
The officials don’t get to look ahead and keep the flag in their collective pocket because they understand that throwing it will have no effect.
At a minimum, they should throw the flag, realize that it will have no effect, then pick it up. Maybe explain, maybe not. But they don’t get to keep the flag in the pocket. They just don’t. They are not at liberty to make that choice.
What that means is that they didn’t see it. They missed the call.
It’s either that or they saw it and didn’t have the guts to make the call.
I’m not comfortable with either.
by spiritofthehill on Oct 27, 2009 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The officials don’t get to look ahead and keep the flag in their collective pocket because they understand that throwing it will have no effect.
True, but they can keep the flag in their pocket if they aren’t certain that there was a foul. Maybe they wanted to make sure that a whistle wasn’t blown or to see what happened with the ball or whatever. We just don’t know what happened exactly. Based on earlier problems with officiating, I think it’s understandable for the refs to be cautious. If they haven’t yet thrown the flag when the play is finished and they realize that it’s unenforceable, then the decision whether to let it go or drop it only to wave it off is trivial.
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
by Zoltar on Oct 27, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think it's more likely
They are trying not to cause a big scene with excessive celebration penalties, in my opinion. Which is somewhat understandable. But I’ll agree with spirit of the hill, this isn’t a “clear” rule, really, and certainly not one that often comes up. Excessive Celebration is probably the only personal foul that could have happened that wouldn’t result in tennessee getting another kick.
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Oct 27, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No you wrong !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVnqGHqAEQ8
I don't like South Carolina...except Myrtle Beach , Hilton Head , Harbor Island and Charleston and maybe Fort Sumter and of course Darlinton but I think thats it and the golf....but thats all......
by bulldurham on Oct 27, 2009 11:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Animated Drive Charts
RTT Classics
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
