Fred Garvin
I service the entire Quad Cities Area
Between the scoreboard being a cluster all game the play clocks not working and the ref's microphone being garbage; we had a lot of trouble understanding the call late in the game where the refs blew an early whistle. Here's the situation - TCU up by 8 has recovered an onside kick attempt and has first and 10 at the SMU 45, with 1:04 left. SMU has all 3 of their TOs so we can't kneel out the game.
The Fox summary does not indicate on which play this occurred. I do not recall if the early whistle happened on the first down play where Miller ran for one yard or the following play on second down and 9 when he ran for three yards. If I had to guess between the two, I thought it happened on first down.
Miller takes handoff, runs into line, is never tackled and he is still fighting for yardage. Ref blows whistle, stopping play as Miller breaks free - clearly an inadvertent whistle. The white hat ref calls time to sort out what happens. Miller is credited with a one yard gain. There is no signal indicating SMU is charged a timeout. The next play stars at the snap of the ball. At this point, I was pissed because I thought SMU was getting a free TO.
What really happened?
I looked back at the play by play on Fox's website and it says SMU was charged with a time out before the next play. But that still doesn't explain something. When the offense has control of the ball and an early whistle stops the play, the offense should have the option of taking the result of the play or replaying the down. Did our coaches really accept a one yard (making it second and 9) or a three yard gain (making it third and 6) rather than replay the down? Then we throw an incomplete pass on third down. Thank goodness for the hurdling the shield call on the punt.
BTW - did anyone else notice the repeated home cooking when it came to running the game clock? As we were driving late in the half and got a first down near midfield, the clock operator had the clock running WAY before the first down markers were set. Several other times when SMU was driving where their plays took only a few seconds rather than what they actually took.
The Fox summary does not indicate on which play this occurred. I do not recall if the early whistle happened on the first down play where Miller ran for one yard or the following play on second down and 9 when he ran for three yards. If I had to guess between the two, I thought it happened on first down.
Miller takes handoff, runs into line, is never tackled and he is still fighting for yardage. Ref blows whistle, stopping play as Miller breaks free - clearly an inadvertent whistle. The white hat ref calls time to sort out what happens. Miller is credited with a one yard gain. There is no signal indicating SMU is charged a timeout. The next play stars at the snap of the ball. At this point, I was pissed because I thought SMU was getting a free TO.
What really happened?
I looked back at the play by play on Fox's website and it says SMU was charged with a time out before the next play. But that still doesn't explain something. When the offense has control of the ball and an early whistle stops the play, the offense should have the option of taking the result of the play or replaying the down. Did our coaches really accept a one yard (making it second and 9) or a three yard gain (making it third and 6) rather than replay the down? Then we throw an incomplete pass on third down. Thank goodness for the hurdling the shield call on the punt.
BTW - did anyone else notice the repeated home cooking when it came to running the game clock? As we were driving late in the half and got a first down near midfield, the clock operator had the clock running WAY before the first down markers were set. Several other times when SMU was driving where their plays took only a few seconds rather than what they actually took.