College Game
Some days are simply perfect football days. A slight chill in the air, a gentle breeze, the glistening sheen of artificial turf. Grass stains are a thing of the past. Aesthetics and meteorology aside the day was superb... until the last two minutes.
I had another actual, for real, legit, Clipping call and a Chop Block. (click on hyperlink to refresh your memory on clipping and why it is rare.) The clipping was beautiful. Right out of the book, no judgment needed, right in front me. I should make next years training tape.
The chop block was also beautiful, but for another reason. I toss the flag, the QB was sacked for a loss, and the defense decides to decline because it would make it 4th and long. The victim protests to the Referee, "Can you watch the high, low blocks?" My White Hat says, "we did" as he picks my flag off the ground and tosses it to me. The player says, "You guys rock".
Ya, we know... for 58 minutes.
So, with about 2 minutes remaining the game is tied at 27-27. The visitors are on their own 15 yard line. There is a fumble, a scramble for the ball, the defense picks-up the ball and scores. The only problem was there was a whistle during the fumble. This is called an Inadvertent Whistle (IW) and is a bad, bad, bad thing to do. If an official has an inadvertent whistle they have to buy the beer. The IW impacts the game for sure, but buying the beer... now that hurts.
Here's the rule: If an official sounds his whistle inadvertently...
1) when the ball is in player possession, then the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play where declared dead or replay the down.
2) When the ball is loose from a fumble, then the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play where possession is lost or replay the down.
There are two additional conditions in the IW ruling which I'll leave out, but the pattern is the same -- the team in possession of the ball at the time of the IW may elect to 'redo' the down and pretend like the play never happened, or they can take the result of the play.
Did I fail to mention the defense had been down 27-14 at halftime and had just scored two consecutive touchdowns to tie the score? Ya, let's try to forget you didn't get a TD.
For this post we are concerned about situation #2. The ball is fumbled, rolls around, touched by multiple players... so how do we know where possession is lost? The beanbag.
Next time you watch a game, and there is a fumble, watch the official nearest the fumble. You will see his beanbag mark the spot where 'possession is lost'. This spot is not only for the unfortunate inadvertent whistle, but is the end of the run. The end of the run is a penalty enforcement spot for fouls during the loose ball.
Now, back to the tied game, with a fumble, inadvertent whistle, fumble recovery, touchdown..... and no f-ing beanbag. Needless to say, this took a minute or three to figure out. Then it got better. And worse.
So, a few plays later, the defense... the ones who should have scored the TD, are flagged for roughing the passer. A huge 15 yard penalty with an automatic first down. Two plays later they have moved the ball to around the 25 yard line and decide to kick a field goal.... which they made and won the game with 1.7 seconds remaining.
One little missed-timed whistle can change everything. Oh, and why was the whistle blown? The coach wanted a timeout.
So the fans are screaming insults, the coach calls us names and says he sending film to our bosses, and we ask for a security escort to our cars.
Did I mention the weather was great!
