I’m disgusted with last nights performance….thought we were outclassed in a lot of areas, especially game management.
That said, the refs really botched the last minute of that game.
Few things….
1. The offensive PI on Jeremiah Smith was a trash call.
2. 99% of the time, when officials make a call like that, they will alert via the head referee to the teams, that “the game clock will start on my whistle” to make it clear. That didn’t happen and it caused mass confusion. I still think most referee crews would not have started the game clock upon placement of the ball. Smith caught the ball and went OB. To go back to previous play, and start the clock, is a bit muddled….even if technically correct, and I want to dive deeper, I don’t think most crews start that clock, but if they plan to, they absolutely make the announcement that clock will start on their whistle which was not done.
3. On this point, im 100% certain. When Oregon had 12 men on the field, there were 10 seconds on clock. After running the play, (4) seconds came off the clock moving it to (6) seconds. But OSU accepted the dead-ball penalty and 5 yards that came with it. Because OSU accepted the penalty, the clock should have reverted back to 10 seconds. It’d be the same as a team accepting a neutral zone penalty on the defense. Whatever time comes off the clock from the play is put back on because the team accepts the penalty from time of snap. That (4) seconds proved to be monumental.
4. Lastly, Will Howard began his slide with 1 second. It’s clear as can be when rewatching on slo-mo. With OSU having (1) TO, and players and coaches visibly signaling for a Time-out, a very strong case can be made as soon as Howard gives himself up via the slide, a TO should’ve been granted with 1 second…..I doubt Fielding makes a 48-49 yard kick but he should’ve had an opportunity.
