Comments on: FAIL 2, SYMPATHY 1

By: InsaneCoachPosse

InsaneCoachPosse — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:15:21 +0000

the celebration rule is just another step in the “pussification” of football… next thing you know they tear down the scoreboard

By: sycasey

sycasey — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:19:56 +0000

Brian O’Blivion has it right. Yes, what Locker did was against the letter of the law, but just as an experiment I went ahead and looked at YouTube highlights of college touchdowns from the last couple of years, and about half of them had actions after the TD that could have been considered against the specific wording of Rule 9, Section 2, Article 2 (which actually, technically forbids doing anything with the ball other than handing it to an official or placing it on the dead spot). I saw guys flipping the ball over their shoulders, flipping it forward away from the refs, doing little mini-spikes into the ground, and so forth.

Did all of these actions draw flags from the refs, being technically illegal dead-ball actions? No, because those refs were smart and realized that a penalty should not be called unless a celebration is excessively long or in the opponent’s face. This BYU-UW officiating crew, to put it mildly, was not smart.

By: John

John — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:48:50 +0000

To Brian@40,

SDSU pretty much threw the ball the entire game – 15 rushes to 59 pass attempts.

Notre Dame still has a very long ways to go to beat anyone in the top 25, though….

By: al-d

al-d — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:10:47 +0000

Basically the horse collar rule doesnt apply to QBs in the pocket or RBs running between the tackles, so the DE that is getting blocked around behind the QB can still reach out and yank him to the ground by the collar. As far as the “immediately” pulling the player down, if the defender grabs the collar but rides the player down (say on his back) then its not supposed to be called.

By: Brian O'Blivion

Brian O'Blivion — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:48:12 +0000

Is it in the rule book? Yes. Should it have been called? No. I’m not a UW fan by the way.

They have a choice whether or not to make a call like that. They almost always have a choice, if not, then illegal contact / PI / holding would be called on 75% of football plays, and football would suck.

Still, UW did have a chance to make it all moot and didn’t block on the extra point, so BYU still deserved the win.

By: oc phil

oc phil — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:40:46 +0000

J in SD @29. Wow, are you cranky or what? If you want to think that the Irish defense looked good then you are entitled to your opinion. An interesting thing to note is that the leading tackler for ND was a defensive back. That either means that the DL and LB’s are missing tackles or lots of passes are being completed. And I don’t consider either of those to be signs of a good defense myself.

By: Dr Huxtable

Dr Huxtable — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:58:50 +0000

This is the actual Horse Collar rule:
“All players are prohibited from grabbing the inside back collar of the shoulder pads or jersey, or the inside collar of the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling the runner down. This does not apply to a runner who is inside the tackle box or to a quarterback who is in the pocket.”

It’s not a horse collar if the player isn’t hauled down immediately. I haven’t found an interpretation of the last sentence about runners and quarterbacks. Does the pulling down part not apply, or does the entire rule not apply to them?

By: Jgaterirish

Jgaterirish — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:39:41 +0000

You didn’t quite finish your sentence. I will finish it off inside parentheses…

“When you start feeling sympathetic for Ty just remember that he is paid a large sum of money (by two colleges) to play golf and lose football games.”

By: Barry Duffman

Barry Duffman — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:53:56 +0000

I am a UW alum, so this hit a little close to home for me. I understand the rule is there, but aren’t all calls judgement calls? Didn’t the ref have to decide how high is too high to throw the ball in the air? As shaky as the UW kicking game is, we may not have made the chip shot extra point, and the chances of a win in OT were probably less than 50% as well, but it seemed like a pretty poor time for the ref to make that call. One more thought; would anyone have been questioning the ref’s thought process if he hadn’t made the call, or would we all have (more than likely) been excited at the chance to watch some more of a pretty good game?

By: JTG

JTG — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:53:29 +0000

Lost in all this is that at best the extra point would have tied the game, merely allowing Willingham to lose the game in OT instead.

Better his men got to the showers early than prolong the inevitable any further…

By: Vandy J

Vandy J — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:44:37 +0000

I’m clearly not a 5-er, but it seems to me that it ought to be possible to get some sort of black-letter law in the rulebook stating that no celebration may be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct unless it is plainly premeditated, choreographed, or directed at the opposing team or fans.

And just for fun, make it a reviewable call…by the announcers, not the officials.

(Yes, I’m still extremely bitter about the Swamp Shoulder Shake of ‘05. I very nearly had my manservant throw my gin rickey at the television in outrage.)

By: Last Dragon

Last Dragon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:28:29 +0000

The horse collar rule is bullshit anyways and should be removed. Its football dammit – a physcial game.

By: Expat Ohioan

Expat Ohioan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:11:36 +0000

The rule might be rediculous, but a good coach coaches his players to not give the ref a chance to make that call.

(Good coaches also make sure their teams score more points than Cal Poly.)

By: The Song of Hiawatha Francisco

The Song of Hiawatha Francisco — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:09:32 +0000

We don�t sweat it out there on the fields, we�re not in there breaking down game tape, reviewing our recruiting targets, we don�t have access to the grinding day-to-day work making up the bone marrow of a distinguished football body. We don�t see all the stuff that goes into those four hours on Saturday, right?

Neither does Ty Willingham.

/not too proud to pick low fruit
//shocked he got here first

By: now_a_hoo

now_a_hoo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:04:59 +0000

I’m with Joe: bad rule, good call. The rule isn’t discretionary; the refs don’t have a choice. It is a rule, not a standard.

If I tackle Mike Vick using his facemask, most would agree that I committed no morally blameworthy conduct, and we all know that my team and I would be penalized 15 yards. It’s the same here.

The rule prohibits throwing the ball in the air and whatnot, it does not prohibit throwing the air while being a jerk .