Although I believe Friday night football should be reserved for high school and that people should go out and support the kids in their community rather than watch some random college game, I admittedly recorded this game for some Saturday morning viewing. It’s not really that I have a particular interest in either program, rather that I watched only my alma mater’s game and my embarrassing NFL favorite last week, needing most of the weekend for work around the house.
The broadcast, interestingly enough, featured a brief discussion of the last Boise State game on national television. Despite recording that game also, I completely missed the post-game fireworks surrounding the punching of Boise’s Byron Hout by Oregon’s LaGarette Blount, which is a shame as it certainly played into my assertion that the pre-game handshake wasn’t going to mean much of anything more than an empty gesture.
This particular mention had to do with how Boise coach Chris Petersen handled Byron Hout in the wake of the situation. Hout actually was the instigator of the incident, having slapped Blount on the shoulder pad and saying something to him in the wake of the lopsided contest. Certainly, it was likely to have been a comment classifiable as ‘poor sportsmanship,’ but certainly not anywhere in the ballpark of Blount’s right cross to the jaw.
I like the quote from Petersen they gave in addressing the fact Hout was not apparently disciplined with a suspension from playing, which was, essentially, that to punish Hout based on the response of the other kid would be unreasonable, which is true. If Blount, turn around and gets in Hout’s face, maybe unleashing some expletives, the cameras probably catch it and cause a little sensation, but I doubt anyone gets suspended, which would have been the preferred outcome of all involved, I’m sure.
I guess this means I have some respect for the coach. Seems like a smart fella.
On to the game.
10:40 – Boise runs to the left side. A pulling lineman (after several repeat viewings, I’ve identified him, actually, as the center Thomas Byrd…so, CAUGHT YA!) makes such an egregious hold on Fresno linebacker Kyle Knox out in the open, near the sideline and right at the point of attack that even I would likely have seen it. Byrd had such a hold on the jersey, in fact, that when running back Jeremy Avery went by them and Knox spun around to pursue, Byrd ended up being pulled off his feet. That’s a classic case of a hold you want to catch. It clearly hindered a defenders opportunity to make a play. I hate to open with such a criticism, but that definitely deserved a flag.
Oddly, when Avery went out of bounds, Fresno linebacker Ben Jacobs gave him a little extra vicious shove toward the ground. The linesman covering the play seems to be looking right at it, but neither flags the play nor even says anything to Jacobs, instead getting distracted by two opposing players who bump into him from behind maybe jawing at one another. He does seem to be telling them to ‘cool it’ in some way or another, but the opportunity really was with the play by Jacobs. I would hope I’d have hit him for a personal foul on that. His intent was not one of good and had I been looking directly at it as it seemed the linesman here was, it would have drawn my flag.
Of course, there are probably more than a few reasons why this guy is working WAC games and I’m not, but we all make mistakes on all levels. I think this was a pair of misses for the linesman. Let’s hope his day improves quickly.
By the way, thanks to an early interception returned for a touchdown, the Broncos already lead 7-0 and are in the ‘red zone’ again.
Fresno’s defense stiffened, however, and yielded only a field goal. Boise 10-0.
5:44 – Boise cornerback Kyle Wilson absolutely keeps reciever Seyi Ajirotutu from getting into his pattern with another pretty obvious hold. He was all over him from the line of scrimmage all the way downfield. Clear hold. No excuse for missing it. The near sideline is struggling early. Get into the game fellas.
3:27 – Boise WR Austin Pettis makes a catch and a move in an attempt to reach the yard-to-gain line, but his knee hits the ground with the ball clearly at the 19-yard line, but extends forward (after he is down, mind you) and comes to a rest with the ball at the 21-yard line, where the line judge marks the spot. I can’t believe it! I know from experience these sorts of plays aren’t always easy to see as you have to see both the knee come down and the location of the ball when it does. The line judge was a good five yards behind the play when Pettis went down. That’s a poor spot.
I wonder whether I’m just cranky because I had my first varsity game as a wing last night and felt very rusty, or maybe because I’ve not had any coffee.
The latter, at least, I can fix. Hold on.
2:50 – Boise WR Titus Young, on the next play, prevents an interception by pulling DB Desia Dunn down by the back of the jersey. Dunn knew there should have been an offensive pass interference call against Young, giving that little flip of the hand meant to mimic the action of an official reaching for his flag and throwing it in the air. TV analyst Rod Gilmore, during the replay, said, “That’s a good no call by the officials,” referring to Young also, apparently, wanting a call on the play. But as he viewed the play, “as a matter of fact, they could have called interference on Young…Titus Young just mugged Dunn out there.”
This time, I have to agree with the call from the booth.
2:09 – Fresno defensive lineman Kenny Borg is clearly caught in the neutral zone at the snap. Simple, obvious call, but coach Pat Hill is pretty irate with the officials. Well, he might be more irate with his team and taking it out on the linesman. Fresno sacked QB Kellen Moore on a third-and-six, but will now face a third-and-one instead of a punting situation thanks to the penalty. He’s letting the official have it, though. I think there are some legitimate gripes with the work so far, but that call was spot on.
Q2 14:50 – Fresno center Joe Bernardi puts an extra and late block on Boise’s Kyle Wilson away from the play and out in the open. Fifteen yards. Can’t argue it. Why did you do it? I don’t get it.
12:19 – Fresno gets their first excitement of the game thanks to an impressive run by Robbie Rouse. The linesman threw a flag for what looked like a horse collar tackle. At live speed at first viewing, my thought was, “Ooh, horse collar. Add fifteen.” Unfortunately for the linesman and for Shea McClellin, who made the tackle, it was a miss. McClellin had a hold of the jersey, which ended up getting stretched out pretty far, but was what brought Rouse to the ground. No hand went inside the shoulder pads of the runner, which means it isn’t a horse collar tackle.
Now, I’m writing this with my understanding of the high school rule, but a quick look-see tells me the NCAA rule similarly is banning the tackles made by grabbing the inside of the shoulder pads and pulling to the ground. Again, Rouse was tackled by his jersey from behind, making him go down in a similar fashion as what you see sometimes with horse collar tackles, but this was not that.
And, as I review it a third and fourth time, the linesman is at the right angle to where he should have seen this correctly. He appears to be looking right at the play and couldn’t have seen a hand go inside the shoulder pads. I guess I need to find the actual rule to be sure I have it right because this looks like a really bad call.
9:37 – On a long kickoff return, I hate that the covering official, as he sprints toward the end zone to stay with the play, took his eyes off the field to look ahead as he’s running. I don’t know why it’s really bugging me, especially since I’d probably be fifteen yards behind the play by that point, but he’s not looking at the play. If the runner drops the ball, for whatever reason, at the wrong time, the official has no idea what happens.
Then, once the tackle is made, the two officials on that side appear to be marking two separate spots just two yards from one another. Sloppy.
off-topic: Coffee with chicory tastes a little funny to me.
And, a couple of big plays lead to Boise now leading 24-10.
5:09 – One of those big plays was a long scoring run by Fresno running back Ryan Matthews to get the Bulldogs within 14. After a quick three-and-out, Matthews uncorked another long run to get further cut into the lead, making it 24-17. What a quick turn of events and outstanding pair of runs. There is some talent in the valley!
Q3 15:00 – Long kickoff return for an apparent score is wiped out by offsetting fouls, resulting in a re-kick. Boise, who had received the kick, got called for a block in the back. The replay showed to illustrate the foul appeared to be a block in the side and not in the back, but they likely just had the wrong replay. Fresno, later on the play, was called for a face mask. On the second kick, Boise still managed a pretty good return, but not for a score.
They do get a field goal out of it, however, to extend the lead to 27-17.
12:17 – Boise’s Wilson finally gets called for defensive pass interference. He’s pretty aggressive in coverage and was pulling on Ajirotutu’s arm pretty much all the way down the field. Good call. He was bound to get busted eventually. I think Wilson is a pretty savvy player from what I’ve seen. I’m guessing he gets caught on much less than that with which he gets away.
12:10 – Simultaneous catch is somewhat interesting because it doesn’t happen that often, but Gilmore and Joe Tressitore do a good job of explaining it from the booth. I think I’m starting to like these guys.
11:46 – The field judge is in perfect position to make the call on a catch in the end zone near the sideline. Great mechanics and judgment. Seems like they may review the play, but this was a great officiating job by J. Taylor.
This does mean that Fresno has really made a game of it, trailing only 27-24.
10:59 – Another opportunity for the crew to show their skill on (yet another) long play. Jeremy Avery takes off on another long run, but just before getting to the end zone, is caught from behind and loses the ball. Before the ball can roll out of the back of the end zone, teammate Titus Young, having trailed the play all the way down the field, pounces on the ball and recovers the fumble for a touchdown.
Despite the fact this play covered 75 yards, back judge Mike Defee was in the right position to see both the fumble and the recovery, as was the aforementioned J. Taylor, with whom Defee consulted briefly before signaling the score. It was a remarkable turn of events, very capably officiated by the crew. Great, great job here.
8:17 – Linesman Patrick Turner gets Fresno’s Andrew Jackson for holding on a run to the outside. Looked like a good call.
Q4 14:16 – J. Taylor is, again, in perfect position to see a catch near the sideline in the end zone for a touchdown. They’re apparently going to review it, but Taylor will be shown to have been correct yet again. Don’t doubt Taylor.
13:36 – Fresno’s Matthews takes off for another long touchdown. Someone should keep an eye on this kid. He’s good. (TD runs of 69, 60, and 68 yards so far). Fresno trails 41-34.
12:07 – Boise’s George Iloka is going to get flagged for DPI because he went after the ball, but played through the back of the receiver when he did it. Good call in my book.
…and Boise scores again and my DVR runs out of recorded game, so that’s all I get to see of that. 51-34 means maybe Boise’s defense isn’t as good as it looked against Oregon. I’m also going to assume nobody punches anyone after the last two minutes of the game.
