Fiesta Bowl: #3 Clemson 29, #2 Ohio State 23 (Postgame)

[bayareabadger]

what is this crap about not using slo-mo when reviewing a play?
A heard a couple different announcers talking about this
I've always assumed slowing down the play helps the ref make the correct call?

I think the theory is that slo-mo might understate the speed of things. So things look more dramatic and intentional because instead of happening in 0.8 seconds, they happen in 5.

The explanation from the head ref:
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: We had a lot of good looks on it. We put on fast motion and slow motion. The player did not complete the process of the catch, so, therefore, the pass was incomplete.
Q. When we looked at it — of course, we are not looking at it with the same eyes you do. When we’re looking at it, he’s got the ball in both hands and both of his feet were on the ground and he made at least one step and maybe more. So to us, we couldn’t understand. Maybe you can explain it a little bit clearer.
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: After the video, instant replay in the stadium as well as back at the video center, they both looked at it slow and fast and they determined when he moved, the ball was becoming loose in his hands and he did not complete the process of the catch.


To be clear, I think it was a very bad overturn. 

[Kris60]

Ohio State had two chances to win in the last 3 minutes:  first of all by stopping Clemson from driving 94 yards. They failed. Secondly the opportunity to drive 75 yards and score a touchdown, again they failed.

That’s the bottom line of it.

Now having said that I became really suspicious of the officials on Ohio states very first Drive where they were running tempo and they had Clemson‘s defense completely off-balance and tired, and the officials waited until Ohio State was about to snap the ball inside the 10 yard line to start the play and do a very very long review of Garrett Wilson’s catch. This allowed Clemson to gather themselves and rest their defense and keep Ohio State to a field goal. My question is why did they wait for the next ball to be snapped before they review that play.  It went like that all night long.

Do you really think Sean Wade should have been ejected for the targeting call even if you want to technically agree that it was targeting? Was it really intentional and malicious or was it more dumb luck? The officials decided that so very quickly that also made me really suspicious. 

Players have been ejected all season for the exact same hit Wade put on Lawrence. As soon as I saw it I knew he was gone.

[Honestbuckeye]

Yes.  True. It’s why I hate the rule, because in that case if you watch it closely he actually leads with his shoulder but because of the way Trevor Lawrence prepared for the hit it ended up being helmet to helmet. 

[medinabuckeye1]

I've already put forth my argument that the game, more than anything else, came down to tOSU not getting TD's on those three early drives when they were dominating.  

The other thing I'll say is that this game is a great reminder that football is a game of inches.  It really is.  Some examples from this game:

• On tOSU's first drive they had 1st and goal at the 5 and 3rd and goal at the 4.  The incomplete pass on 3rd was oh-so-close.  Inches.  
• On tOSU's third scoring drive they had 1st and goal at the 8 and got to 3rd and goal at the 5 and they were oh-so-close.  Inches.  
• On tOSU's fourth scoring drive they had a false start that made it 1st and 15 on the 16 instead of 1st and 10 on the 11.  That is a flinch, inches, but the chance of a TD from 1st and 10 at the 11 is vastly better than the chance from 1st and 15 at the 16.  Inches.  
• Clemson's first TD came on 3rd and 2 from the 8.  They pitched it and the runner was initially bottled up behind the LOS. There were two tOSU defenders in position to make a play but both of them went for the sideline to prevent him from getting the corner and he cut back inside to avoid both. If the tackle had been made clearly it would have been 4th and 3 from the 9 and Clemson would have kicked a FG.  Instead, he juked the defender for the 1st down then was barely missed by two more for the TD.  16-3, 16-10, 16-17, 23-17, and 24-23 are a LOT different than 16-7, 16-14, 16-21, 23-21, and 29-23.  Inches.  
• On Clemson's second TD a tOSU defender had good position to make a stop (albeit for a 1st down) at the tOSU 45 but he just fell down.  Even after slipping on the turf he still got a finger on Lawrence's foot.  Inches.  
• On Clemson's third TD a tOSU defender got a handfull of the ball-carrier's jersey short of the 1st down at about the 50 but he just couldn't hold on.  Inches.  
• On the scoop-and-score that was overturned another milisecond or two and they couldn't possibly have overturned it.  Inches.  
• The roghing the kicker penalty was legit, but again, inches.  That was 4th and 6 at the Clemson 15.  They ended up punting anyway but from the 47 instead of the 15.  Inches.  
• On Fields' first INT the DB streaked in made the play but note that the tOSU WR had a step on everybody.  If the ball had been thrown a little further he was gone.  Inches.  
• On the game-winning TD drive, on the long pass from Clemson's 28, the receiver was hit at the 50 but not tackled and ran another 15 yards into FG range at the 35.  With a clean tackle at the 50 and only 2:16 to go maybe Clemson's drive stalls out.  Inches.  
• On the game-winning TD, Lawrence held the fake just long enough to get the defender out of position.  Recognition a second sooner could easily have resulted in a pick or at least a sack.  Inches.  
• On the game clinching INT, Olave simply saw it differently than Fields did.  If they had seen it the same way, TD.  Inches.  

Now to be fair, you can write up a similar list of "inches" plays that helped tOSU.  My point isn't that Clemson got all of them, my point is simply that this is a game of inches.  A few inches here or there and the game goes the other way.  

[Honestbuckeye]

I will add to that Medina:

Ohio State made too many mistakes to win that close of a ball game.

The first drop by Dobbins could’ve been thrown much better with more loft and would’ve been an easy catch for the first touchdown.

The second drop by Dobbins out in the flat, he was wide open and could’ve walked into the end zone.

The roughing the punter was just a mistake but both by coaches and by Cameron Brown

The final interception was actually a great throw and probably a touchdown but Olave decided to cut his left.

If anyone of those mistakes are not made Ohio State probably wins and you cannot blame any of those mistakes on the officials

All you can say is that the officiating clearly made it how much more difficult hill to climb but in the end they still had their chance and blew it

[Kris60]

It also makes no sense to just simply dismiss the possibility.

Badge, that kind of answer speaks more to your bias against all things SEC than anyone else’s bias against the Big Ten.

[847badgerfan]

I like SEC football. I like LSU.

[medinabuckeye1]

It's that one. The hit was targeting by rule and the rule has you thrown out. I think it's a bad rule, but it's the way it works. I'm sure the refs felt it was accidental as well, but they are not given disgression on that front.

This is about where I am on it.  I don't like the ejection but I get that the rule is there.  I think there are two things that need to be considered:

• A 15 yard penalty and 1st down are bad enough, but if we are throwing a guy out I think there should have to be at least some indication of intent.  
• A lot of times the "target" moves in such a way that causes or at least contributes to helmet-to-helmet.  Why do we never see offensive players ejected for that?  I'm not saying they should be, but under the current rule it makes some sense.  On this particular play Lawrence ducked and leaned INTO the contact.  But for that it would have been shoulder-to-shoulder.  I'm not saying this WAS Lawrence's fault, or even that the call was technically bad, just that the rule should be adjusted.  

I'm also concerned that if the rule is not adjusted, smart coaches are going to start coaching their players to try to draw targeting calls against the opposition.  It would make sense.  If you are playing tOSU and you can get Chase Young and Shaun Wade ejected early on for borderline targeting calls under the current rule, your chances the rest of the way are a LOT better.  

[Honestbuckeye]

Badge, that kind of answer speaks more to your bias against all things SEC than anyone else’s bias against the Big Ten.

I don’t know.  I certainly don’t believe in any conspiracies but with how that game was officiated- it was weird how often an officials ruling or lack of- went against OSU. There seemed to be a Bias. I watched the game again yesterday and was really floored by how often when Ohio State went tempo the officials would do things to slow them down like on the very first drive. I was floored how the officials could ignore the egregious hands to the face against Chase Young on numerous players including the one that was reviewed by the officials on the targeting call. And most of all if you really look at the fumble that was overruled the slow-motion video evidence strongly supports the car on the field and it really isn’t even debatable   

still- I give Clemson credit for hanging in there. Four large chunks of that game they were having their asses handed to them pretty badly. lol

[MrNubbz]

Hmmm, we can pick the individual things that decide the games from all of them.

I'll say OSU's defense decided the game. Title game spot on the line and they give up 94 yards in four plays. That's the group that decided it.

That same defense scored a touchdown that got denied not by the opponent

[eltigrerex]

It was a catch and a fumble. 

[FearlessF]

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said the vicious hit he took from Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade in the first half of Saturday's College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl left his arm numb and was a turning point for the entire team in its 29-23 win over the Buckeyes.

"It was just, they hit me, and I was worried it was my collarbone for a second because I couldn't feel it up there around my shoulder and neck, and my arm just went numb," Lawrence said Monday on a CFP teleconference. "It was just a really bad stinger. And then I got kind of -- I was kind of pissed off because I knew they were over there thinking like, 'All right, we knocked him out.'"

[Honestbuckeye]

That same defense scored a touchdown that got denied not by the opponent

You make a great point here.  Sadly lost in all this conversation is the fact that two NFL players were going at it right there. The receiver use his hands to keep the ball away from the defense of back and that’s how we always catches the ball yeah the defense of back was all over him and relatively quickly forced him to fumble the ball and create a touchdown. That was some great football by both players right there.  

[Honestbuckeye]

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said the vicious hit he took from Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade in the first half of Saturday's College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl left his arm numb and was a turning point for the entire team in its 29-23 win over the Buckeyes.

"It was just, they hit me, and I was worried it was my collarbone for a second because I couldn't feel it up there around my shoulder and neck, and my arm just went numb," Lawrence said Monday on a CFP teleconference. "It was just a really bad stinger. And then I got kind of -- I was kind of pissed off because I knew they were over there thinking like, 'All right, we knocked him out.'"

I tip my hat to him. He showed me some great skill sets and determination that I had not seen from him before.

ironically, many Clemson fans assumed that Justin fields was “like JT Barrett“ and could run but not throw but the reality was fields mobility was extremely limited by his banged up knee and he had a great day passing far out doing Trevor Lawrence, while Lawrence save his team with his running skills.