CLOSE CALL ON FAKE FG COSTS LSU BOWL WIN
Down 21-14 seconds before halftime, LSU attempted a fake field goal with holder Brad Kragthorpe.
Kragthorpe, son of one of the team’s assistant coaches Steve Kragthorpe, ran up the left alley for what appeared to be a nine-yard touchdown. The officials ruled him short, but called for a replay review.
One angle showed Kragthorpe definitively extending the ball across the goal line, but his knee wasn’t visible. Another angle showed the moment his knee hit the ground — after he stretched for the end zone — but the ball wasn’t visible.
By extrapolating information from multiple angles, officials should’ve been able to conclude that Kragthorpe scored. Instead, the Tigers went into halftime trailing and eventually lost to Notre Dame, 31-28.
Would this would-be touchdown have made the difference?
TREON HARRIS (INCORRECTLY?) SADDLED WITH INTERCEPTION
Florida held off East Carolina, 28-20, in the SEC’s final bowl game Saturday afternoon. But the Pirates almost climbed back in the second half thanks to a questionable interception thrown by Treon Harris.
Josh Hawkins collided with one of his teammates. The ball squirted to the outside of his wrist as he rolled left, and the nose appeared to tip into the ground. But the officials didn’t review the play.
The Pirates scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession to get within 21-14.
TARGETING COSTS HOWARD MATTHEWS MOST OF BOWL
Not even halfway through the first quarter, Texas A&M senior safety Howard Matthews roamed across the middle and delivered a blow to the head and neck area of a defenseless West Virginia receiver.
There wasn’t much questionable or controversial about the call, as it was a textbook targeting penalty, but fans (and most players and coaches) tend to get upset when a star defensive player gets booted from the game.
Luckily for the Aggies, the team put up 45 points to outpace the Mountaineers.
MIAMI PUNTER DELIVERS EMMY PERFORMANCE
Miami punter Justin Vogel displayed pretty impressive mobility late in the first quarter of the Independence Bowl, his right foot lifting up above his shoulders.
South Carolina’s Bryson Allen-Williams didn’t arrive on time to block the punt, and Vogel’s leg clipped the top of his helmet on the way down. Vogel immediately collapsed, earning a flag from the officials.
While this may have been the right call by the book, Vogel also embellished. This was a tough running into the kicker call that went against the Gamecocks.
AUBURN CAN’T LEVERAGE PASS INTERFERENCE CALL
Trailing Wisconsin 28-24 with barely three minutes left, facing a fourth-and-11, coach Gus Malzahn decided to let Nick Marshall and Sammie Coates try to connect in the end zone.
Coates appeared to run his route right into the chest of CB Sojourn Shelton. Both players grabbed each other simultaneously, and then used the contact to gain body positioning.
Coates dropped the pass with Shelton draped on his back. There was definite contact on the play, but it’s unclear which player initiated it, and could’ve been a no-call easily.
Auburn leveraged the call into fourth-quarter points, but Wisconsin tied the game in regulation and won in overtime.
TOUGH LATE HIT CALL
As East Carolina tried to convert a third-and-1 early in Saturday’s Birmingham Bowl, tight end Steve Baggett fought for first-down yardage near the sideline with cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III tugging at his jersey.
Baggett stepped out of bounds, but his feet still churned forward as Hargreaves held him in place, and linebacker Antonio Morrison delivered him a hard shoulder nudge.
This is another one of those difficult subjective calls that could go either way, but I understand why Florida fans may not have appreciated it.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
