Officiating Controversies Mar Southern Utah Victory.

Now, I have to be careful here, because SUU fans have been good to this blog.  They do not get a lot of press coverage, being located in Cedar City.  I have tried to be sensitive to that.  But I need to get this out.

1.  Controversy #1...Third Quarter Safety

Score 21-17 Weber State

With Brad Sorensen in shotgun formation, a the snap was low and the ball skipped on the turn past Sorensen.  In desperation, he heaves the ball into the endzone toward Austin Minifee, but it was intercepted by Jarret Gooden.  Minifee tackles Gooden in the endzone.  Touchback?

No, the officials rule that Gooden attempted to return the ball and that the ball broke the plane of the goal line.  They ruled the play a safety.  The Replay is not clear that the ball ever left the end zone, but it was clearly the intent of Jarret Gooden to return the interception.  If the ball did break the plane of the goal line, then the ruling was correct.  If not, then the play should have been called a touchback.  Those who had a better view of the play than I did, above the opposite 40-yard line, reported that the ball did not leave the end-zone.

Conclusion, inconclusive, however the controversial play clearly kept momentum of the side of the Thunderbirds.

The score at this point became 21-19 Weber State

2.  Controversy #2...4th quarter Mike Hoke fumble

After SUU took the lead, Weber State took the next kick off and were in business after a pair of Tanner Hinds runs.  But on the next play, Mike Hoke was sacked and fumbled the ball when getting ready to pass.  This was, of course, recovered by Southern Utah.  But replay's clearly showed that Hoke was in the act of passing.  As such, the play should have been ruled an incomplete pass.

Conclusion, this was a big mistake by the officials.

3.  Controversy #3...Penalty on Field Goal

After the Hoke fumble, the Weber State defense did their job, and held SUU to a field goal attempt.  But one Weber State linebacker climbed up the back of a lineman in an attempt to block the kick.  The play was correctly called a personal foul.  But the officials at first said the penalty would be assessed on the kick off, but then changed their mind gave Southern Utah an automatic first down.  The officials were correct at first, and wrong when they changed their call.  Here is the quote from the NCAA rule book... 


Rule 9, Section 1
For Team A fouls during free or scrimmage kick plays: Enforcement may be at the previous spot or the spot where the subsequent dead ball belongs to Team B (field-goal plays exempted).

Enforcement is at the spot the foul for kick offs, free kicks and punts, but not for field goals. The question on field goals is whether the ball has crossed the line of scrimmage. Normally, once the ball has crossed the line of scrimmage, the the enforcement of any penalty is after the result of the play.  Before the ball crosses the line of scrimmage, enforcement is at the previous spot.  But the section on personal fouls clearly states the enforcement on any personal foul on a field goal attempt is after the result of the play.  I could not find any rule about this particular type of personal fould.  Now, if I am wrong on this assessment, then the rules are confusing.

Conclusion: the enforcement of this penalty is unclear in the rule book. Here is a link to the rule book, please enlighten me.

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR12.pdf

The officials gave the ball back to Southern Utah and they scored a touchdown.  The score at this point was 35-21.  And may Weber fans left the stadium at this point.  But they missed a 63-yard kickoff return that put Weber State back in business.

The actual back breaker for Weber State was the final kick off return by Austin Minifee for 67 yards, after Weber cut the lead to 35-28.  This allowed SUU to pin Weber within the 5 yard line their final drive.  SUU is not Utah State, after all, and were able to force Weber to turn the ball over on downs.

However, none of this field goal business would have mattered had the officials called the Hoke fumble correctly.

Now, for those SUU fans that I have offended....

Even though there were controversial calls, and by my count, resulted directly to 9 SUU points, the lack of proper kick coverage by Weber State was what really cost the Cats the game.  This poor coverage prevented WSU from keeping any momentum they may have gained from their two second half scores.  All three Weber kickoffs in the second half were poorly covered and gave the T-birds a short field an momentum.  If anyone cost Weber the game, it was their special teams.  But the officiating was terrible and played a role in the final score.  And what about the rugby style kicks which led to the blocked punt, anyway?

Weber fans should keep in mind that we do not have the benefit of ESPN replays at the FCS level.

This time, SUU benefited from Big Sky officiating.  Wait until it costs them a game next year when they have to deal with it every week.

SUU MVP: Austin Minifee
Weber State MVP: Josh Booker