Football Education

[SummitLion]

First it was toe heal, then malfunctioning video feeds, and now it's a blade of grass. I learn so much about the rules of football while watching Penn State.

 

[Frank Lee]

The runner wasn't ruled down, but then the replay camera might have indicated that his knee touched the top of some blades of grass. They called it irrefutable evidence.

 

[DELion]

The word "grass" is never mentioned in the ncaa rule book. The reference is always to "ground." Grass does not equal ground. If the grass was 6" long and the runners shin grazed it would he still be considered down? Not sure why PSU always seems to be on the losing end of these creative rule interpretations. Regardless, I didn't think the replay was definitive enough to change the ruling on the field.

That was a key play in the game but overall PSU was outplayed by Oregon. So I'm not going to dwell on it too much.

 

[Jerry]

It struck me as a very weird replay ruling. In fact, I can't remember seeing one like it before in the past (which doesn't mean it's never happened) where there is no "ruling" on the field per se and replay just inserts itself into the picture nevertheless.

That aside, the criterion for reversal is certain proof or irrefutable video evidence...and I can't see where a few phantom blades of grass that you would have needed a magnifying glass to confirm touched the guy's knee meets the reversal standard.

But what the heck, a bizarre screwing over by the conference zebras or their replay crew has become a feature of these kinds of games. It always seems to happen and it always seems to happen in only one direction.

All this said, the game was on the table for us to win in OT. Unfortunately, another standard feature of these kinds of conference games is us folding in crunch time. Count on it. The D had two chances to stop Oregon to win the game and couldn't get it done. Then Drew threw the INT to bring down the curtain.

 

[Frank Lee]

Every play should be stopped and scrutinized, flag or no flag. Look for holds, blocks in the back, movement by the offense, forward motion stopped, hands to the face, defensive holding, O and D pass interference, and knees possibly touch the tips of grass blades.

 

[LionDeNittany]

First it was toe heal, then malfunctioning video feeds, and now it's a blade of grass. I learn so much about the rules of football while watching Penn State.

My general issue with this play is that where his knee did or did go down wasn't what was supposed to be reviewed.

The fumble happend well after that. And that's what gets automatically reviewed.

The scope of what they reviewed was wrong