Closing the Door on the Ducks

by ccmachine on Sep 18, 2006 2:09 PM CDT in Football Comment 9 comments

As much as I don't want to it's time to move on from the Oregon. My official stance is that Oklahoma played in a way in which they deserved to win and the officials literally took the game and gave it to Oregon on that onside kick. Many may disagree with me but there are many who agree as well. You can look a few posts down for verification on that. Besides the biggest official's blunder in the history of college football there were other things that went wrong for the Sooners as well.

The officiating was bad but so was the Oklahoma defense. There are serious breakdowns in the secondary that will cost the Sooners more games this season if the problem isn't fixed. Dennis Dixon passed for 341 yards and two touchdowns, most notably to a wide open Brian Paysinger for the winning score.

Another issue with the Oklahoma defense is absolutely no push up from the middle from the line. In my opinion this is a worse issue than the defensive backs. Improvement here would equate to improvement in the secondary as well. Opposing offenses are running at an incredible pace against the Sooners and there is no pressure on the quarterbacks.

I also believe that Oklahoma got too passive on offense as well. Instead of going for the kill and putting the Ducks away Oklahoma played to run the clock and set up a field goal on two consecutive possessions. After taking a 27-20 lead, Nick Harris intercepted Dixon's pass on first down. Oklahoma got the ball to the Oregon three yard line but couldn't score in three tries that included two runs up the middle and one pass. There was no bootleg with Thompson nor an option or pitch to get the ball to the outside. Oklahoma settled for a field goal instead on going for it on fourth and goal from the two.

On the next Oregon possession Nick Harris intercepted Dixon again setting up the Sooners one more opportunity to put the game away. Beginning at the Oklahoma 38 yard line the Sooners ran the ball six consecutive times to the Oregon 5 yard line setting up another field goal. A touchdown on either possession gives the Sooners a win and a gutless, inadequate, incompetent referee couldn't take it away.

On the other front the Oklahoma offense played really well. The Sooners had over 400 yards and on a normal day 33 points should be enough to win. Paul Thompson was effective and efficient. He passed for 174 yards and a score with no turnovers. I also feel that Adrian Peterson inserted himself as the Heisman frontrunner with 211 rushing yards, 68 return yards and one touchdown.

The Sooners are still 2-1 with anything possible. If Oklahoma can get past Texas and run the table they can still find themselves with a conference championship and in a BCS bowl game. Here at the machine we are moving on and the Oklahoma football team is as well. Middle Tennessee State is up next for the Sooners before an off week to prepare for Texas. The season moves on.

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Pac-10 officials suspended, but it's still a loss

It's almost justice...

Crossposted at RedState Sports.com: The Pac-10 conference suspended the officials who blew several calls, even after using instant replay, while working the Oregon-Oklahoma game on Saturday. Two of the blown calls led to Oregon's 14 points in :32 that decided the 34-33 game.

The suspension is for one game. Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said:

The fact that the errors on the onside kick altered the outcome of the game is most unfortunate and unsettling. We had a solid veteran crew assigned, and the instant replay official had a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10. We believe in the ability and integrity of each individual involved. It should be noted that not all of the seven officials were directly involved in the play in question, but the entire crew bears responsibility for every play. Game officials and replay officials have positions of great responsibility and must be accountable for their actions.
Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, coach Bob Stoops and his players. They played an outstanding college football game, as did Oregon, and it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating.

OU president David Boren sent a letter [.pdf file] to Big XII commissioner Kevin Weiberg requesting that the game be voided, that the referees in question be suspended for the remainder of the season -- and that nonconference officials be assigned to future Big XII - Pac 10 games.

Weiberg responded that the game would stand, saying:

There is no provision under NCAA or conference rules for a game result to be reversed or changed as a result of officiating errors, nor do I believe there should be.

An apology is a start. Admission of wrong, and (albeit very temporary) suspension of the officials is a start. But these calls literally decided the game. Granted, OU's defense allowed the game to be close enough at the end that the refs were able to decide the game; however, the facts remain what they are. And this remains the worst officiating I have ever seen.

Hopefully there won't be a letdown against MTSU next week; AP should have 200 yards with ease, and the Crimson and Cream should be able to use the non-conference finale to prepare for Texas and the rest of their conference opponents. I still believe that they can go 11-1 -- but the defense will have to improve to the point where referees can no longer personally decide the game.

by Jeff Emanuel on Sep 18, 2006 9:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Correction

The blown calls led to UO's final 7 points. UO scored once vs. OU late-game Matador defense, which led to the kickoff/onside attempt.

by engeljd on Sep 20, 2006 5:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not Enough!

A one game suspension is not enough in my opinion!

by ccmachine on Sep 19, 2006 12:23 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

How exactly did they "deserve to win?"

"My official stance is that Oklahoma played in a way in which they deserved to win."

Explain to me how a team that gives up 501 yards total, 343 yards passing and 26 first downs "deserves to win", especially considering that the same Oregon team OU played only mannaged 379 yards of total offense and 240 yards passing the week before against Fresno State.

Explain to me how a team that has a shot to win the game at the end and lets the game winning field goal get blocked "deserves to win."

Yeah, you got hosed, but you didn't "deserve" anything.

by rdbaker on Sep 19, 2006 9:22 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Not Rocket Science

If that play (kick-off) is called correctly they win the game. All Oklahoma has to do is take a knee!

Give the Sooners some credit. They came back from being down 10-0 and took a 13 point lead. Sure there were mistakes in the game on defense but the worst mistake was the officials giving the ball to Oregon when they didn't deserve it.

There is no way anyone can argue the fact that call cost OU the game. Again, if it's made correctly the Sooner take a knee twice and walk out with a win.

by ccmachine on Sep 19, 2006 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, yes there is a way

... so take the Crimson and Cream earplugs out of your ears, quit typing your death threats, and pay attention.

1. If Oklahoma's defense had shown up, it wouldn't have been 33-27 with 1:12 left to begin with, and there wouldn't have been an onside kick for the officials to screw up. I quoted the defensive stats above, but since you intentionally chose to ignore them, here they are again:

Oregon's total offense: 501 yards
Oregon's passing offense: 343 yards
Oregon's first downs: 26

The officials are not responsible for your defense sucking.

2. If Oklahoma had... oh, I don't know... actually tried to prevent Oregon from blocking Garret Hartley's field goal, which occured after the bad call, OU wins and the bad call is a minor footnote. Your special teams choked on a game winning field goal, and last I checked, it was the Ducks, not the officials, who blocked the kick.

Quit using the officials as an excuse for your poor play. You people whined when you lost to Texas Tech last year, and you people whined when you lost this game. I think there's a pattern developing here.

by rdbaker on Sep 20, 2006 9:30 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Amazing

"Another issue with the Oklahoma defense is absolutely no push up from the middle from the line. In my opinion this is a worse issue than the defensive backs. Improvement here would equate to improvement in the secondary as well. Opposing offenses are running at an incredible pace against the Sooners and there is no pressure on the quarterbacks."

That is a quote from the above post which you obviously didn't read. The OU defense does have trouble but absent from your stats are the forced turnovers that allowed OU to come from 10 points behind to take a 33-20 lead in the game.

You can argue all you won't but you won't make any head way on this site. This was worse than the Texas Tech game last year because there were so many obvious calls the official could have made on that one play.

Answer this question, If the refs make the correct call on the kick-off, who wins the game?

by ccmachine on Sep 20, 2006 11:21 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The better team won

I can't believe the huge deal that is being made about this game. Did you watch the game? Did you see Oklahoma get worked by Oregon for 3 quarters? Did you see the offensive pass-interference by Oklahoma on it's touchdown play(which started 3 seconds after the play clock expired) in the first half? Sure the Sooners showed up in the 4th quarter but the better team won, bottom line. The officials did blow the call at the end of the game but the only reason Stoops and OU's AD are crying so much is because it was at the END of the game -if it had happened during the middle of the game, Stoops would be studying tape right now instead of lobbying for PAC-10 changes. Get over it. Mistakes are made. If we are going this way, then we should strip Ohio State's trophy against Miami for the obvious blown interference call at the END of the game. And we will have to cancel 25 percent of the games after the year's over because of blown calls. Let's talk about Oklahoma's blown field goal at the end of the game...if they had made it, they wouldn't be trying to bruise the college football season by overreacting. Look at the ESPN poll: States that would be considered neutral in this affair agree that you're overreacting. "Sure, Oklahoma, take away Oregon's winning touchdown....and then take away your own bogus TD in the first half." Again, the bottom line is that Oregon is the better team.

by jouisance on Sep 20, 2006 4:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs