Clock Management
There was an interesting situation near the end of the game last night. USC got a first down at the 3-yard line with about 1:11 left. For some reason, the officials did not start the game clock.
This allowed Stanford to save a timeout. It also prevented USC from burning time off the clock before snapping the ball. Instead, USC scored on a 3-yard run by tailback Allen Bradford but there was still 1:08 left. And Stanford still had two timeouts left.
If and when Lane does turn into his new future coaching idol, Nick Saban, the next time this happens, he will call a time out and tear the officials a new one.
There were quite a few referee issues on "non-calls" against Stanford. Defense pass interference against Stanford, offensive holding, etc...... late hits. What are ya gonna do?
Just keep on playing and try to win games.
SC has been dealing with the ref bias for many years.
Like any fan, I miss my fair share of things, but I was screaming about this. Besides the error by the refs, I have a question: Can/should someone on our sideline bring this up? Maybe in the heat of the game there's no way to sit back and make a call like we do at home.
Wolf, now THIS is something you need to be looking into. This was a DELIBERATE attempt by the Clock Operator to save precious seconds for Stanford which was clearly about to go behind by a point. No doubt about it. If you want further proof of the clock manipulation, look at the ensuing kickoff. Owusu fields the kickoff 5 yards deep in the endzone while backpedaling. He then is somehow able to run all the way out to the 14 yard line before the Clock Operator starts the clock. That saved Stanford another 5 full seconds. Finally, as Stanford was setting up for their final FG, the cheating Clock Operator got greedy and stopped the clock at 7 seconds left even though nobody called a timeout yet. Harbaugh was waiting until 4 seconds to call the timeout, but the Clock Operator pushed his luck this time and messed up. The refs adjusted the clock to 4 seconds at Harbaughs request. The point is, those are 3 glaring examples of how the Clock Operator was cheating in the final minute of the game to ensure Stanford had enough seconds to get in FG range. Wolf, if you are any kind of real journalist, you will pursue this issue further, because its kind of a big deal if Stanford has a guy cheating for them as he runs the clock.
After reading Jill's article, I remembered that I was wondering about Luck's hit on Sharice Wright. It sure liked just as bad if not worse than Sharice's hit last week against Washington. Is it only illegal for a defensive player to hit someone helmet to helmet? or is it applied the other way as well.
Kudos to Stanford for winning a close game, but Andrew Luck was outplayed by Barkley and Harbaugh was outcoached despite what anyone says to the contrary. Harbaugh looked like he was going to cry on the sideline. He's been exposed.
RE: CG penalty
I have reviewed the play several times. My conclusion is that it was a "really quick whistle" and CG was in motion simultaneously with the whistle only one stride from away. The hit was one count after the whistle. I doubt he could stop, even if he heard the whistle.
CG plays the MLB a little better than Dennard in the "Cover Who". We need a defensive schemes that augments each MLB's core skill set. This also relevnt to our CB's. Lets put these guys on an island and sic the DL on them and get some QB (_)(_) and of course a few penalites..collateral damage.;>)
Yep the clock guy was doing all kinds of stuff, must be a The officials were told by Larry Smith not to let stanford lose, USC not going anywhere but rest of pac is.
PK: Um, Larry Smith (former USC football coach) is dead. I thought for a moment that a ghost was talking to the Pac-10 officials. Alas, you must have meant Larry Scott, the Pac-10/12 Commissioner.