Just look at coach Doba's face. Look at that face! A reaction to yet another bewildering, horrible, incompetent call by another Pac-10 official no doubt. As Jim Moore of the P-I writes today, the situation just keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse....
I hate to harp on officials, but the Pac-10 has proved it, time and again, in the last few years that they have the worst crew around. The latest victim is our cousins on Montlake, as they were absolutely screwed vs. USC. Not only was the game-ending clock deal handled very poorly in that they gave UW what amounts to a timeout as the refs stood around talking about the game clock for 60 seconds, allowing Stanback and Willingham to talk about what to do next, but they absolutely, positively blew it by not giving UW 5 seconds on the game clock! It was plain as day. When Shackleford was tackled, there were 5 seconds of the game clock, maybe 4 seconds at worst. But the refs waited until there were 2 seconds before stopping the clock for the first down. But an even bigger mistake was on the first USC possession of the game, when they pulled off a fake field goal that was a really good call. USC's Steve Smith went to the sideline to pretend to leave the field, but he never actually did, instead talking to the sideline coaches and hanging around. That isn't illegal, as long as the player lines up at the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped. The replay shows that Smith is straddling the 25-yard line, yet the line of scrimmage was really the 20. So in reality, USC was lined up in an illegal formation, as they didn't have enough players at the line of scrimmage. Even worse was that Tom Hansen and lead official Verle Sorgen said the play was correct, and that the team was lined up correctly! I guess he can't count to 7. And I guess he'll keep his head in the sand about his conference having the worst group of officials in the nation.
Speaking of Tom Hansen....I guess he's playing the role of CEO and is in full spin-cycle, but come on. Look at the Pac-10 TV package, look at the Pac-10 bowl deals (only ONE January 1 bowl game??), look at this group of officials. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
Finally, Jason Hill is getting revved up for the Cal game. Hill had a tough week last week for personal reasons, and best of all, he's not happy with the way the game went vs. OSU. Personally? I think this is a much better thing for WSU right now, to struggle and gut out a tough road win when the coaches and players all acknowledge they made mistakes and didn't do their thing, yet they still won the game! It's the perfect situation, as the coaches can ream the players all week and harp on how much better they have to play, instead of being fat-n-happy about blowing out OSU. Not that they'll be lacking motivation for the #10 team in the nation this week, but still, you get the point.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1) Willingham should have been penalized for coming out onto the field. He did not have a time out, and therefore should not have been able to stop the clock for a review...which happened. And anyhows, Stanback should have been lined up to snap the ball when the clock started.
2) The Steve Smith play had been discussed with the officials beforehand, I hear, so they knew exactly what to expect. The WR does not need to line up on the line of scrimmage as long as there are enough players on the line.
3) Speaking of bad calls, what about the two phantom holding calls which cost USC a touchdown and a 60-yard run?
Totally agree on Willingham running onto the field, and no doubt about it, whether there were 5 seconds or 2 seconds, there is no excuse for not getting that thing snapped. And that's a lousy job of the refs to allow 60+ seconds of time to figure out what the time should be, which is like Carroll said, giving UW a free timeout. It's all on their coaches and Stanback for not getting that thing off. But, have you not seen Pete Carroll do the same thing? The week before on TBS, he was in the refs huddle at every opportunity. But I love Carroll, he's just the greatest. I was laughing watching him "windmill" his arms and screaming "START THE EFF-ING CLOCK!" about 10 times at the end of last week, that was great!
And, on the Steve Smith sideline issue? True, that play was legal in and of itself and the refs knew it was possible, but the problem was the alignment. Smith was to be the 7th guy on the line of scrimmage, and he wasn't, and that's the UW gripe. Smith was 5 yards at least behind the line of scrimmage, and if you go back and watch the replay, USC only had 6 guys that you can count as truly being on the line of scrimmage.
And, don't get started on holding calls! What about the mother of all holding calls, Steve Smith with two fistfulls of Scott Davis' jersey vs. WSU, only to see the refs huddle and PICK UP the flag?!?! Ugh. Even USC fans know that was BS.
I guess we are at least all united in the amazing incompetence of Pac-10 officials, and at one point or another, we all feel their wrath!