I'd love to see Brown and co. enter a review of the officials that demands a clarification of the screwed up call on the turnover in the 2nd quarter. Now, I know things were fuzzy last night, but I'm sure the
Dispatch AP piece on the game omits a key portion of the sequence of events.
The missing part? Well, only what was originally called on the play - grounding.
From my perspective one key question is the following:
Was it a lateral? Let's say the interpretation is no - despite what Musberger claims. Which would largely be based on the attempt to throw to award a receiver ahead of the neutral zone. It is only because of Muckelroy's sacking of Carpenter that the pass goes errant, and backwards - and yes, I know, there is no such thing as an "in the grasp" description in the
NCAA rule book (PDF).
Moreover, the initial call on the field was grounding - which is instantaneously altered to a live ball based on the point of first contact with the turf. Nonetheless, it almost seems cleaner to call Carpenter's desperation pass effort grounding.
I guess I feel there is a conflict in the rule book for this precise situation - passer going down flings desperation pass (grounding) - which comes out on a reverse trajectory because of the sack itself (thus lateral and fumble).
Anyway - here is a good, complete YouTube of the entire sequence.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEAoTlzCbIE"]YouTube - Chris Jesse: The Holiday Bowl Bartman[/ame]
And a good fark of Chris Jessie.
One other clarification - the list of reviewable plays does include sideline interference with a ball in play.
SECTION 3. Reviewable Plays
ARTICLE 3. Miscellaneous reviewable plays include:
j. Any person who is not a player interfering with live-ball action occurring
in the field of play (Rules 9-1-4 and 9-2-3-c).
But, the formal description of the penalty to be applied, and the position on the field from which it may be applied does not have to result in 4th and 3 from the eight yard line.
Finally, there is no doubt that Jessie was on the field of play - conclusive visual evidence of interference with the ball is sorely lacking.