I had the TV on with the sound off because we were having a birthday party for my daugher this afternoon. I happened to catch the very end of the USC-ND game but I’m confused about what happened. I saw Matt Leinart try to sneak it in over the goal line with time running down. It looked like he got stopped short of the goal line, the clock ran down to zero and the fans started running onto the field. Then there was a bunch of chaos, the officials cleared the field and then the Trojans suddenly lined up on the goal line again with (I think) 7 ticks put back on the clock. Leinart snealks it again. This time he scores. ballgame. What happened? Was there a penalty? It didn’t look like Leinart went out of bounds. I didn’t get a close look or get to hear any commentary at the time so I’m still curious about what happened. Can anybody fill me in?
On the play where Leinart got stopped, he fumbled out of bounds, which stops the clock. The timekeeper must not have seen the fumble, and thought it was a normal tackle, so they kept the clock running down to zero. The refs reset the clock because of the fumble and SC scored on the next play.
Leinart got nailed on about the one yard line and coughed up the ball, which shot out of bounds and (should have) stopped the clock. The official kept waving his arms for it to stop, but the timekeeper didn’t. Don’t know if 7 seconds elapsed, but the clock didn’t legitimately run out so USC had time for another play.
D’oh, borschevsky beat me to it. Egads.
Here is they way I understand it while I was watching it. On the first play, Matt tried to sneak it over the line, but the ball got nocked out of his hands at about 7 seconds left. The clock should have been stopped at that point, it was allowed to run out, the fans ran on the field, etc. The officials ruled that the clock should have been stopped, cleared the field, and gave the Trojans the ball with less than a yard to go and 7 seconds. Matt sneaks it over the line for a touchdown, winning the game.
At this point there was 3 seconds left, and after clearing up some frippery and a penalty for “unsportsmanlike” behavior on the Trojans part (I never saw what this was) they kicked the ball, time ran out and game over.
I currently attend USC, and wish I could have been there. That was a very exciting game, and both teams were great. A lot of Notre Dame fans probably think this was a cheap win and that the officials shouldn’t have made that call, but the clock should have been stopped. Of course, next year ND will probably stomp us, but it was fun for now.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t see the fumble out of bounds but that makes sense.
The Irish fans must have been pissed but I’m glad the officials got it right (I’m assuming there was no controversy about the accuracy of the call?)
Dang, everyone beat me. Next time, I’ll hit preview.
Well he definitely fumbled out of bounds with time left on the clock; I don’t think there was controversy about that. However it looked to me like the spot was wrong - they spotted the ball basically on the goal line, and it looked to me like the fumble went out at about the 3. As far as I know, the spot should be where the ball went out, not at Leinart’s forward progress. Though I have to say I didn’t see any great replays of where the ball went out, so I could be wrong there.
Oops, Bob Davies just said on ESPN that it looked like Bush aided Leinart into the endzone, a personal foul! Not called tho.
I wonder if there’s a rule in college football about fumbles late in the game being spotted from the spot of the fumble rather than where it goes out of bounds. In pro ball you’re not allowed to fumble a ball forward in the last two minutes (to prevent players from deliberately trying to knock loose balls into the endzone). If college ball has a similar rule, that could explain it, even though this would be a backwards fumble rather than a forward fumble, maybe there’s just a blanket rule about placing it at the spot of the fumble?
Or maybe it was just a bad spot.
" `I used all 200 pounds of my body to push Matt in,’ said Bush, who ran for 160 yards on 15 carries with three touchdowns."
Well now, isn’t that special. :mad:
Could be. I don’t know the college rules well at all. It just seems strange that he’s rewarded (in some sense) for fumbling the ball. Who does he think he is, Tom Brady? 