There was, um, a lot to get through on this one. Let’s review last week’s You Make the Call before we dive into some plays from the Miami game, because that play provides an excellent reference point for a few more I want to cover in this one.
For shame.
I’m going to go with “legal call” on this one. It’s close - Clements definitely reaches across the defender’s body and has his hand squarely on 6’s chest. Any time you see a blocker’s arm separating the ball and a defender, an official’s radar is up, and that blocker is on a knife’s edge between a flag and a no-call.
What keeps Clements out of trouble here is primarily the fact that he lets his hand slide off the chestplate of the defender. There is very little - if any - sign of a jersey pull, and my money’s on that telltale glimpse of bare shoulder pads being what the deep wing was waiting on to pull the trigger.
Instead, Clements lets his hand slide off, giving him some plausible deniability here, and bolstering the case that it’s his bulk and momentum throwing the defender off, rather than a single grasp of the chestplate.
Great job here by the deep wing staying disciplined and waiting for the sequence to play out. I don’t think a flag would have been a horrible call here - there’s certainly some restriction there - but I think if Clements attempts the same block with his right arm magically amputated at that instant, the outcome is likely the same. There’s just too much distance for the defender to cover, and too large of a human between him and Tuten for it to matter.
Announcers questioned a hold on both teams bringing back big plays. What's your call on these? - Nova Hokie 95
I also questioned both of those holding calls (sort of a game-wide “offsetting penalties, replay the down” situation, as both fouls called back scoring or near-scoring plays). Let’s take a look.
First, the play immediately before Mose Philips picked off Ward to deny Miami a 21-7 lead.
The key indicator here for C is the fact that Burgos goes more or less completely horizontal, with his lower body kicking out while his upper body stays more or less stationary. That’s not a natural position for a football player to arrive at on his own. Still, this one looked suspect to me watching it live, because it looks to me that Burgos is primarily responsible for losing his footing, and has his upper body essentially pushed straight down by the Miami left tackle.
Where I can give C a bit of wiggle room here is that he has a much better view of Miami LT Markell Bell’s left hand than we do (and we weren’t given a good shot from behind the play, which probably would have helped). It’s possible he saw a much more drastic tug on Burgos’s shoulder than I can see from the broadcast angle, which would certainly strengthen his case here.
The counterpoint is the old officiating saying, “the kids cheat when the feet are beat,” and I don’t see any beat feet here. Quite the contrary, Bell continues to shuffle his feet around Burgos, keeping his body between Burgos and the ball.
Even given that, I can understand why C let it fly on this one: it looks bad. Like, trainwreck bad, with Bell’s hand twisting to keep Burgos’s upper body stationary as he falls. And assuming C had stronger evidence than we do of a restriction of that left hand, this action is clearly a takedown (if you remember our categories of holding from my piece last season), and a fully justifiable flag.
If we reject that assumption, I’d consider this flag a miss falling squarely into “funky ain’t a foul” territory.
On to the next one, the call which brought back P.J. Prioleau’s near-scoring scamper. Keep an eye on Tech center Braelin Moore.
Mechanically, I believe C is indeed in the best position to see this one. While Moore is one of U’s primary keys, there’s a lot more going on at the point of attack at the line, and Moore’s matchup has drifted a couple of yards into the backfield. Still, U could potentially be able to assist on this one, depending on where his focus is at that instant.
I’m somewhat skeptical C is able to see this contact from start to finish, as there’s a bunch of traffic around his side of the line almost immediately, and Moore’s matchup doesn’t become the most obviously important one until P.J. is about even with him.
In my judgment, C got fooled here by the DT throwing his arms out, as the DT himself has stopped moving his feet, and chosen to lunge at Prioleau instead. Moore taking advantage of him being off balance and planting him with a strong right hand, in my opinion should have been ruled an overpower and a legal play, rather than a takedown and a foul.
A key factor is how trivial a role Moore’s left arm plays in the sequence. To get a big man like that to roll over, Moore would have had to take advantage of substantial leverage pulling with his left hand while pushing with his right, and I just don’t see that.
It’s an understandable call, and the second where C, in my opinion, gets fooled by what appears at first glance to be a clear indicator. In my judgment, C having a wider view to better track where/if each player’s feet are moving, rather than focusing primarily on the upper body action, would have likely resulted in no-calls on both accounts.
Last Miami TD, miracle play that got them to the 1. The Miami [RB] tackles a tech d-lineman getting up and capable of making the sack. - Seikoh_04
One more potential hold, and this one is interesting, because it requires a very close look at the wording of the holding rule. But first, let’s check the video: we’ll be looking at the block thrown by Miami RB #6, Damien Martinez, on Tech safety Jalyen Jones.
The hand(s) and arm(s) shall not be used to grasp, pull, hook, clamp or encircle in any way that illegally impedes or illegally obstructs an opponent. (9-3-3b)
Here’s where I think Martinez gets himself out of trouble: he actually does a good job of throwing his arms out right when it could most strongly be argued he was holding. As much as I’m usually extremely skeptical of the “arms out, wasn’t me” move, this time I think it actually works.
The key here is that Jones ends up on the ground primarily on his own, Martinez really just helps him along with a legal block as Jones slips. Martinez does end up with his arms around Jones, which you can see briefly in that view from the back, but he slides off with very little resistance - those arms are clearly not restricting Jones much, if at all.
The primary factor keeping Jones down is simply Martinez’s weight on his back. Once again, I’m going with, “funky ain’t a foul.” It’s a weird one, because Martinez is absolutely restricting Jones, but he’s doing so with his chest, not his hands or arms. It’s a very strange, yet legal, block.
Horse collar no call on Drones last series - Flag or No Flag? - U2Hokie
This was certainly another one that got Hokie twitter fired up, and probably would have been one of the primary gripes from Tech fans had the final play not caused so much controversy. Still, I think it was a correct no-call. Here’s the play, and the rule:
All players are prohibited from grabbing the inside back or side collar of the shoulder pads or jersey, or the nameplate area, and abruptly pulling the ball carrier down. This rule applies to a ball carrier, including a potential passer, who is inside the tackle box. (9-1-15)