Fiesta Bowl: #3 Clemson 29, #2 Ohio State 23 (Postgame)

[bayareabadger]

It's within this article.


https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-ten-supervisor-of-officials-fumble-return-for-td-should-have-stood-in-ohio-state-clemson-game/

Ahh. Looking at the wording, I'm trying to understand who makes the call.

It says the guy "initiated" the review. So that would imply he just said "look at it." That would make sense it was then thrown to the head ref because if you had someone up there looking at it, there would be no reason to have that little screen thing on the sideline. 

That would throw it back to Ken Williamson, the head ref who made the call. 

[bayareabadger]

Well, now the replay official's name is out there.

Might want to consider retirement, or be fired.

Even the Big Ten director of officials and national director of officials are on record saying that call was bad. No word from the SEC office yet. Probably figuring out how to ESPiN it.

So this is a mild tangent, but what does it take to get fired in everyone's business?

I ask for this reason. A few years back, my place of employment had a rather public facing mess up. The reason wasn't in individual failure, but rather a gap in a system that had removed some checks and balances (most employees knew it was risky, corporate wanted the efficiency). A LOT of folks in the community called for firing of everyone up and down the ladder whose name they could figure out (not corporate higher ups), and most everyone they said should be fired had just about nothing to do with it or didn't know what they were doing was an error. 

I don't know if a bad interpretation in a big moment is fireable by the standards of that profession. Maybe it is. And if he can't do SEC games, he'll probably do Sun Belt games or other local games. It's not a super in-demand role This isn't really a job, it's a paying hobby. As of 2015, the Big Ten paid $3,000 a game, might be up to $3,400 now, and the conference doesn't pay for travel or hotel. The dad of a friend of a friend was an SEC ref. He was a bank exec with a potbelly. 

[TyphonInc]

Ohio State Spends Entire Fiesta Bowl Prep on 2020 Michigan Game Instead of Clemson

https://www.thebigfourteen.com/home-2/ohio-state-spends-entire-fiesta-bowl-prep-on-2020-michigan-game-instead-of-clemson

Now we know why OSU really lost the CFP game. 

[CWSooner]

Somewhat related topic:

What does everyone here think of Day's decision NOT to go for two after tOSU's last TD?  To review, the TD gave tOSU a 22-21 lead with 11:46 to go in the game.  Ohio State kicked the PAT to take a two point lead, 23-21. 

As it turned out, it didn't matter.  Since Clemson scored a TD rather than a FG they went up by 4 (27-23).  They then opted to go for two to make it a 6 point game.  Swinney's decision to go for two was both obvious and irrelevant.  By that time there was only 1:49 to go in the game so Ohio State was obviously either going to score a TD or not.  Clemson going for two simply made it such that IF tOSU had scored a TD, the PAT would have been necessary.  Even if tOSU had gone for, and gotten a 2pt conversion, Clemson's TD would have put them up by three, 27-24 and they would have kicked the PAT to take a four point lead.  Either way, tOSU needs a TD. . . .

I was surprised.  I had just told my wife that Ohio State would certainly go for 2 when the kicking team trotted out.  I think that Day should have gone for the 2-pointer.

[Temp430]

The SEC refs in this game were abysmal.  

[Entropy]

The targeting rule needs to be overhauled.  They have to account for the offensive player lowering their helmet as well.   That said, the call made during the game was a call they've made throughout the season (inconsistently, yes... but they've made it).   The catch, fumble and defensive TD that was overturned was flat out robbery.   If the WR makes that catch, takes one step in bounds, steps 2 and 3 out and then has the ball stripped, they would have called it a catch.   It was bad enough that people wonder if $$$ was involved have legitimate concerns.  Further, it was bad enough, I started feeling sorry for OSU..... which made me feel dirty and morally bankrupt.  =)

[medinabuckeye1]

I'm home with a sick kid today and he is napping (finally) so I'm rewatching the Fiesta Bowl. 

I just finished the first half and two things stood out to me:

• tOSU was oh-so-close on all three RZ trips. Dobbins dropped two sure TD's, Mack caught a ball just barely out the back, etc. As I said upthread, even just one TD on those three trips would have given tOSU a much better chance to win. Two and a 24-0 lead or all three and a 28-0 lead would have been insurmountable. 
• The tOSU defense had plenty of chances on both of Clemson's TD drives. They were this thisclose to tackling Etiene on the first TD (it was 3rd down) and also had a few 3rd and longs in addition to the Targeting call on both drives. Even with the RZ failures, 16-10, 16-7, 16-6, 16-3, or 16-0 is completely different than 16-14.

[Entropy]

I have an OSU friend who feels like OSU did more to cost them the game than Clemson did to win it.  He uses examples of the dropped passes and penalties as game changing plays that clemson did not create. 

[medinabuckeye1]

I have an OSU friend who feels like OSU did more to cost them the game than Clemson did to win it.  He uses examples of the dropped passes and penalties as game changing plays that clemson did not create.

It goes both ways. That is a hard loss to take because, tOSU certainly outplayed Clemson in many ways and made some critical mistakes where an inch here or an inch there would have been enough to win the game for the Buckeyes.

That said, I do not mean it to take anything away from Clemson. They got flat out dominated for the first 25 minutes but kept it close through a combination of their RZ defensive success and tOSU's RZ offensive mistakes and they clawed their way back and eventually took the lead. Then they fell behind again and got VERY close to running out of time when tOSU was up 23-21 and driving/burning clock. Then, with their backs against the wall trailing by two, in the shadow of their own goalposts with less than three minutes to go they put together a 96 yard drive in four plays against a defense that had stymied them for most of the game.

Another thing I want to give Clemson credit for is for finding creative ways to get yards and points when tOSU stopped the things that they normally do. Examples:

• For the season Etienne rushed for 1,500+ on 8 yards per, tOSU held him to 36 on 10 carries.
• For the season Higgins and Ross had ~1,100 and ~800 receiving yards on ~20 and ~13 per catch respectively. tOSU held them both under 10 yards per catch for a combined 80 yards.

Any honest Clemson fan would admit that if they had known before the game that Etienne would rush for <40 while Higgins and Ross only had 80 combined receiving yards they would absolutely NOT have expected to win.

It is a credit to tOSU's defense that they neutralized Clemson's usual sources of offensive production (Etienne rushing, Higgins and Ross receiving) but it is a credit to Clemson's offense that they found alternatives.

[medinabuckeye1]

I just got to the roughing the kicker penalty and I now realize how completely stupid that penalty was.

When I saw it live I saw that tOSU was VERY close to blocking the punt so I just assumed that the player who committed the penalty was the one who almost blocked the punt. It wasn't. Olave took the proper angle, just missed the block, and did NOT touch the kicker. The other guy (Brown) just took a horrible angle. He was nowhere close to blocking the kick and hit the kicker anyway.

[medinabuckeye1]

The first interception:

Ultimately, it wasn't a big deal. It was 3rd and 8 from the tOSU 45 and Clemson got it at their 36 so effectively it wasn't much different from a short (19 yard) net punt. 

The bigger thing on that play was that the WR was open AND behind the entire defense. If that pass had been a little longer it would have been an easy TD.

[medinabuckeye1]

Wow, I hardly even noticed this watching live but the tOSU punt immediately prior to Clemson's game-winning drive was almost recovered by the Buckeyes. 

This was with about 3 minutes remaining and tOSU clinging to a two point lead. The punt hit a Clemson blocker in the back and fell to the turf, live ball.

The Clemson blocker turned around and fell on the ball. Wow, that was incredibly fortunate for Clemson. Had the Buckeyes recovered they would have had 1st and goal with under three minutes to play. 

[FearlessF]

 The other guy (Brown) just took a horrible angle. He was nowhere close to blocking the kick and hit the kicker anyway.

head shaker


kid must have just lost his head, perhaps he thought that Olave had the block easily

[Honestbuckeye]

https://twitter.com/FB_FilmAnalysis


You really want to break your heart...loook at that film.   As Day said, they had the exact look they wanted from Clemson’s defense and it was open, and the throw was money.    Rrrrgggghhh