How were the numbers for last night's Louisville-Old Miss game? It was the only college game on last night, they must have been huge.
I'll bet the numbers were pretty low, Louisville v Ole Miss doesn't have the cache of ND/FSU for sure and neither are expected to be great teams this season, although Kiffin himself is a big draw! I tried to watch that game but it wasn't even very good. Not to mention by Monday night I'll bet most football fans were ready to go to bed early and get ready for work.
It was the only game... but mainly it was an exciting game for the whole way, and that makes the most difference. I kept waiting for your boys to put those sorry garnet wearing goat-fluffers away, and ya kept letting them get up off the mat!
I think my favorite offensive play of the game. Maybe Joe Wilkins taking the 50/50 ball from the FSU kid is a close 2nd.
Something I never thought of... One fact we probably missed going into the game: Mike Norvell knows how to attack Freeman’s defense better than most. Memphis beat Cincinnati twice during the 2019 season. The Tigers averaged 4.7 yards per carry in those games, up from the Bearcats’ season average of 3.6 yards per carry allowed. Memphis also scored 31.5 points per game in those meetings, up from Cincinnati’s 20.6 average for the year. For as much as Norvell still has to get figured out in Tallahassee, his ability to put together an offensive playbook is not in question.
Of the many calls that ND fans questioned in this game, the roughing the punter was the most complained about. Who are these “rule experts” at ESPN? Per the NCAA handbook (Rule 9, Article 16), running into/roughing the kicker has nothing to do with which leg is contacted by the opponent. In fact, the rule specifies that “when in question whether the foul is running into or roughing, the foul is roughing.” By that interpretation, Sunday’s play was unquestionably roughing and an important one as well. Paul M. Great question. It’s also my understanding that at least one official signaled roughing the punter before the crew convened and changed the call to running into the punter. You are also correct in what you found in the NCAA rule book, which doesn’t offer any clarity on the standing leg/kicking leg distinction. In fact, I don’t see that distinction made at all. That said, Terry McAulay, who has officiated Super Bowls and has worked as a rules analyst for NBC, tweeted the following at me on Monday.
If you look at that video, he contacts both legs, that's as many as he's got. Just like the punter, the ref doesn't have a leg to stand on.
I think it should have been roughing. It comes down to trying to define what is largely a subjective decision (how hard and dangerous was the hit) with cookbook like definitions; i.e. running into the kicking leg is 5yd. while running into the plant leg is roughing; might as well try to measure the foot pounds of energy used; blah blah. Lots of times it's borderline whether the guy was blocked into the kicker or used his own momentum (here of course that isn't an issue). It's somewhat like trying to objectify "targeting"...or "pornography"..."I don't know how to define it but I know it when I see it."
Agree totally, that call was awful, but then I think they were ACC refs who have made really bad calls in the past.