I watched the game with particular interest in the controversial referee calls. Here are my observations. Disclaimer: I do not profess to be a referee, just an interpreter of the rules.....
BOUNCED MEMPHIS CATCH DURING FIRST POSSESSION
In Memphis's first series, receiver caught a 2nd and 10 catch that clearly bounced on the ground in front of him as he made the catch. Easy review, lots of time to review, but wasn’t.
QUESTIONABLE CATCH BY LAZARD IN IOWA STATE’S FIRST POSSESION
Iowa State’s next series, Lazard caught a pass behind him that the ball touched the ground as he caught it. He had possession, and probably would have been confirmed, but close enough it probably should have been stopped and reviewed.
ILLEGAL LINEMAN DOWNFIELD
Illegal lineman downfield on Memphis touchdown called back….correct call…easy call. The lineman was clearly beyond three yards past the line of scrimmage.... and not blocking anybody. It's a call that has to be made.
OVERTURNED MEMPHIS INTERCEPTION IN THE ENDZONE
Interception overturned in the end zone was easily the correct call.
The defender never had control with his hands at any point, rather theball was trapped between his arm body and fell out as a result of player contact with the ground. Because there was no possession, three was also no continuation of possession either, which is also necessary.
Should not have been called a catch in the first place because of two missing conditions for it to be considered a catch, not just one.
MEMPHIS ROUGHING THE PASSER
Roughing the passer….no way under any conditions. It wasn’t a late hit, and it wasn’t even rough. Nor did the defender may any sort of egregious effort beyond his momentum towards the quarterback. It was the nature of contact one sees nearly every passing play when a defender is closing in on the quarterback.
That was a ridiculous call and a huge break against the Tigers and for Iowa State.
LAZARD’S BOBBLE TOUCHDOWN CATCH
Touchdown catch by Lazard….good from all angles. Lazard was never out of bounds before catch, not that it would have mattered. He clearly had possession falling out of bounds.
BUTLER CATCH AND OUT OF BOUNDS NEAR THE END ZONE
.
He did not step out of bounds. The first angle clearly shows green between his shoe and the line.
But his feet did touch out of bounds while being tackled before he fully stretched and the ball broke the plane.
It should have been the ball on or inside the one yard line, not the three.
MONTGOMERY FUMBLE
The Montgomery fumble was clearly a touchdown. First of all, he clearly had posseison of the football, so that part is moot.
There is a good angle that strongly suggests that he reached and had possession of the fooball going over the goal line, and that view alone should have been sufficient evidence that it was indeed a touchdown. But, it was an angle view leaving the bullshit argument of “indisputable”, simply because it is an angle and not a straight-on shot.
Still, there were lots of other views where you can’t see the football itself, but you can compare body location and movement with the angle view that does. By comparing all views with the angle view that shows the football, it is clearly indisputable that the ball crossed the plane before it was fumbled,. Indeed, perhaps as much as the entire football…which the angle view suggest in the first place.
The view itself was “beyond any reasonable” doubt, and arguably “indisputable” in its own right. But extrapolating all information from all views confirms the angle view, the sum of all views makes it absolutely indisputable.
Only by refusing to combined and summing all of the information from all views can you stretch an argument that it was disputable, and that’s wrong.
HOLDING RECEIVER BY PEAVY
I honestly think the holding the passer call on Peavy was legit, at least legit enough to be called.
It frustrating because the receiver never made an effort to catch the ball, but rather appeared to feign a shoulder injury from his arm being held....and got the flag. Cheezy situation, but at least there was something there.
Peavy did hang on to his arm, and it was a catchable ball had the receiver tried at all.
SUMMARY
To me, there were actually only three really bad calls. Two of those had a major impact on scores, and could have had an impact on the outcome of the game.
The roughing the passer allowed Iowa State to score instead of Memphis getting the ball, and the Montgomery fumble prevented Iowa State from scoring, and putting the game out of reach.
The calls arguably resulted in a wash as far as the game outcome, though you never know how the game would have played out otherwise.
The third really bad call was the early bounce catch by Memphis, which didn’t impact the game, but was so obvious you wonder what the review booth is even there for. They are supposed to be reviewing every play and that bounce stands out like a sore thumb.
I may have missed them, but I also never saw any egregious holds that didn’t get picked up by the referees.
All in all, except for the two major and potentially game impacting bad calls mentioned, the referees did a much better job than I thought they were doing in real time.
Neither team likely benefited from the refereeing in this game, though the timing of the Montgomery fumble call clearly changed the scenario of the last five minutes of the game and gave Memphis a last shot to win it.
This was definitely nowhere near a Kansas State type of refereed game.
Lastly.....
Iowa State overcame a ton of adversity in this game when you consider the KSU flashback, two ineligible key players, and a bunch of injures to game-impacting players. All against one of the best teams that Iowa State has played in a bowl game...and on their home field nonetheless.
Count me as one who is both proud and impressed!
(In my opinion.)
BOUNCED MEMPHIS CATCH DURING FIRST POSSESSION
In Memphis's first series, receiver caught a 2nd and 10 catch that clearly bounced on the ground in front of him as he made the catch. Easy review, lots of time to review, but wasn’t.
QUESTIONABLE CATCH BY LAZARD IN IOWA STATE’S FIRST POSSESION
Iowa State’s next series, Lazard caught a pass behind him that the ball touched the ground as he caught it. He had possession, and probably would have been confirmed, but close enough it probably should have been stopped and reviewed.
ILLEGAL LINEMAN DOWNFIELD
Illegal lineman downfield on Memphis touchdown called back….correct call…easy call. The lineman was clearly beyond three yards past the line of scrimmage.... and not blocking anybody. It's a call that has to be made.
OVERTURNED MEMPHIS INTERCEPTION IN THE ENDZONE
Interception overturned in the end zone was easily the correct call.
The defender never had control with his hands at any point, rather theball was trapped between his arm body and fell out as a result of player contact with the ground. Because there was no possession, three was also no continuation of possession either, which is also necessary.
Should not have been called a catch in the first place because of two missing conditions for it to be considered a catch, not just one.
MEMPHIS ROUGHING THE PASSER
Roughing the passer….no way under any conditions. It wasn’t a late hit, and it wasn’t even rough. Nor did the defender may any sort of egregious effort beyond his momentum towards the quarterback. It was the nature of contact one sees nearly every passing play when a defender is closing in on the quarterback.
That was a ridiculous call and a huge break against the Tigers and for Iowa State.
LAZARD’S BOBBLE TOUCHDOWN CATCH
Touchdown catch by Lazard….good from all angles. Lazard was never out of bounds before catch, not that it would have mattered. He clearly had possession falling out of bounds.
BUTLER CATCH AND OUT OF BOUNDS NEAR THE END ZONE
.
He did not step out of bounds. The first angle clearly shows green between his shoe and the line.
But his feet did touch out of bounds while being tackled before he fully stretched and the ball broke the plane.
It should have been the ball on or inside the one yard line, not the three.
MONTGOMERY FUMBLE
The Montgomery fumble was clearly a touchdown. First of all, he clearly had posseison of the football, so that part is moot.
There is a good angle that strongly suggests that he reached and had possession of the fooball going over the goal line, and that view alone should have been sufficient evidence that it was indeed a touchdown. But, it was an angle view leaving the bullshit argument of “indisputable”, simply because it is an angle and not a straight-on shot.
Still, there were lots of other views where you can’t see the football itself, but you can compare body location and movement with the angle view that does. By comparing all views with the angle view that shows the football, it is clearly indisputable that the ball crossed the plane before it was fumbled,. Indeed, perhaps as much as the entire football…which the angle view suggest in the first place.
The view itself was “beyond any reasonable” doubt, and arguably “indisputable” in its own right. But extrapolating all information from all views confirms the angle view, the sum of all views makes it absolutely indisputable.
Only by refusing to combined and summing all of the information from all views can you stretch an argument that it was disputable, and that’s wrong.
HOLDING RECEIVER BY PEAVY
I honestly think the holding the passer call on Peavy was legit, at least legit enough to be called.
It frustrating because the receiver never made an effort to catch the ball, but rather appeared to feign a shoulder injury from his arm being held....and got the flag. Cheezy situation, but at least there was something there.
Peavy did hang on to his arm, and it was a catchable ball had the receiver tried at all.
SUMMARY
To me, there were actually only three really bad calls. Two of those had a major impact on scores, and could have had an impact on the outcome of the game.
The roughing the passer allowed Iowa State to score instead of Memphis getting the ball, and the Montgomery fumble prevented Iowa State from scoring, and putting the game out of reach.
The calls arguably resulted in a wash as far as the game outcome, though you never know how the game would have played out otherwise.
The third really bad call was the early bounce catch by Memphis, which didn’t impact the game, but was so obvious you wonder what the review booth is even there for. They are supposed to be reviewing every play and that bounce stands out like a sore thumb.
I may have missed them, but I also never saw any egregious holds that didn’t get picked up by the referees.
All in all, except for the two major and potentially game impacting bad calls mentioned, the referees did a much better job than I thought they were doing in real time.
Neither team likely benefited from the refereeing in this game, though the timing of the Montgomery fumble call clearly changed the scenario of the last five minutes of the game and gave Memphis a last shot to win it.
This was definitely nowhere near a Kansas State type of refereed game.
Lastly.....
Iowa State overcame a ton of adversity in this game when you consider the KSU flashback, two ineligible key players, and a bunch of injures to game-impacting players. All against one of the best teams that Iowa State has played in a bowl game...and on their home field nonetheless.
Count me as one who is both proud and impressed!
(In my opinion.)
