Dirty play and Officiating

[shyndy]

And for the record, if a Nebraska player ever tackled someone like this, it would still be a cheap shot. He was leg hunting and he succeeded in taking him out. He tried to get Westy earlier in the game, but luckily that time it didn't work.

So, like when we lost our NT on an uncalled chop block by one of your linemen and RB, whi hit him square in the side of the knee?

I understand why you're upset, but these things happen on both sides. And low tackles downfield are far from illegal.

I guess tackling at the legs from behind when he clearly saw that Sutton didn't catch the ball was my problem. Yeah, it was a dirty hit and he did exactly what he set out to do: get a cheap shot hit in. I don't recall the Huskers doing that to your NT, but maybe I missed it.

the refs could have missed it, but sometimes people misunderstand that blocks below the waist between the tackles are legal and regular. It is only a penalty if the player is engaged with another lineman

 

[The Snork]

This is the same team that got into a full on brawl - not just a shoving match - with a team in their bowl game. If you don't think that the Sutton hit was dirty, I guess I don't know what to tell you. There's no way he didn't see the ball fly past - he was looking right at Sutton before taking him out. He had plenty of time to stop, but he didn't want to. End of story.

Did you actually watch the bowl game? Or just the fight on sportscenter?

Look out. Here comes the justification for the bowl game brawl.

"BYU players were only defending their brothers."

"Memphis played dirty all game."

"Just make them do up-downs."

Lol knapp. But the stigma the Byu players had to live with all off season was horrible and punishment enough you know.

Adults loved to say things like that but kids knew better. We knew darn well it was always better not to get caught.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

I'm rewatching the game now, so I will add to this post as it goes along.

First, during the first Nebraska drive when Moore runs the ball out of the fly sweep, I see two things: 1) he has some great speed and could have got a more from that run but step out of bounds and 2) #20 Preator drops his shoulders to hit Moore after Moore step out of bounds about 5 yds earlier. No flag, no response by anyone actually (refs, announcers, coaches, players, or crowd). Maybe it was so early in the game, everyone was just happy to have football back.

Later in the drive, #20 cuts Westy at the knees with a shoulder tackle instead of trying to wrap him up after the catch (this was after Jordan's second catch of the drive).

 

[ZRod]

I'm rewatching the game now, so I will add to this post as it goes along.

First, during the first Nebraska drive when Moore runs the ball out of the fly sweep, I see two things: 1) he has some great speed and could have got a more from that run but step out of bounds and 2) #20 Preator drops his shoulders to hit Moore after Moore step out of bounds about 5 yds earlier. No flag, no response by anyone actually (refs, announcers, coaches, players, or crowd). Maybe it was so early in the game, everyone was just happy to have football back.

Later in the drive, #20 cuts Westy at the knees with a shoulder tackle instead of trying to wrap him up after the catch (this was after Jordan's second catch of the drive).

This did get a reaction from the crowd. It might not have been audible, but there was a lot of WTH/wth's from the crowd. Just grumbling, but at that point it was the first one so people thought it was just a poor play, not a trend that would continue.

 

[NUFan8]

Cougar fan here (and was at the game). Username is what it is cause I am now a fan of the NU fans. Great environment and hospitality. I have had the chance to go home and rewatch the game. Few thoughts:

• The Preator hit was sketchy. While watching that replay at the stadium, I thought that Preator started lowering his head and didn't really even know if Sutton caught the ball or not, which is not encouraging if you are a fan and have suffered years of crappy secondaries. Still don't know if he "thought" Sutton had the ball or not, but was way to late and poor technique. Sorry to see that. Preator is young and was mostly filling in at safety as our starting safety was suspended. Not an excuse, though.
• Nothing dirty in the Foltz hit. Even at the game when the replay was showed, every NU fan around me but one (and I was at the 40 yard line in the West lower section under the overhang where there are TV monitors) agreed that it was not BYU's fault. The one idiot fan still was in denial after watching it with his own eyes. I thought it was pretty funny as the rest of the NU fans got all over him and I didn't have to.
• The suspensions were announced right on the ABC coverage on screen. Starting safety (Nacua), one of our top pass rushers and maybe a starting LB (Takitaki), our So. quick receiver (Dye) who plays in the slot and is probably a backup but vying for starting playing time, and a backup defensive lineman (Laulile). Don't know what else needs to be done here and I thought it was handled appropriately.
• There were a few NU blocks in the back, but probably some on BYU as well that weren't called.
• All in all, I thought the game was a tough physical play, but other than the one play, not dirty. I know fans like to cherry pick plays as examples, we do it as well. Other than the Preator hit, I watched that game and found just as many "bad" hits from your players during the course of play. There were a number of "chop blocks" that looked pretty messed up. One of your lineman went at the knees and side of our corner (#7 Hanneman) while run blocking. The refs threw a flag and then got together and picked it up. The block was kind of on the side and behind cause he was turning, but either way that's a dangerous hit. Our starting DT (Tuiloma) and best run stuffer is out 4-6 weeks on what looked to be an illegal chop block. Nothing called. Not trying to stir the pot, I just know that we all have a tendency to see only those that go against us. Still, Preator his was bad, but because we play physical doesn't mean we are any more dirty that other teams, NU included.

 

[Apathy]

As an official myself, my dad (also an official) we go to games to root for the Huskers of course but we also watch the officials and grade them. Those officials made some right calls, made some horrible calls, and missed some calls but overall they looked lost at times.

The Sutton hit should've been a flag for hitting a defensive player. The ball was at least 5 yards away from Sutton before the BYU defender made contact and the way he lowered himself was downright intentional.

Illegal use of the hands to the face was an awful call by the officials. How do you get that call wrong when you have 3 officials in that vicinity looking all in the same direction? Not to mention that penalty gave BYU a free TD.

The no call against Foltz was the right no call. Not BYU's fault when our own lineman blocked the defender into Foltz

The delay of game call on us took at least 3-4 seconds from the officials to blow the play dead after the 25 second clock ran out. How does that happen? Another sign of how those officials looked lost out there.

Nebraska at one point in the game should've been flagged for a block in the back

BYU got away with some holds on Collins. Again how do 3 officials looking in the same location miss holds?

The officials didn't cost us the game, our poor hail mary defensive scheme did that to ourselves, I just wanted to give you guys some input from our end.

 

[IvoryTorpedo]

And for the record, if a Nebraska player ever tackled someone like this, it would still be a cheap shot. He was leg hunting and he succeeded in taking him out. He tried to get Westy earlier in the game, but luckily that time it didn't work.

So, like when we lost our NT on an uncalled chop block by one of your linemen and RB, whi hit him square in the side of the knee?I understand why you're upset, but these things happen on both sides. And low tackles downfield are far from illegal.

I guess tackling at the legs from behind when he clearly saw that Sutton didn't catch the ball was my problem. Yeah, it was a dirty hit and he did exactly what he set out to do: get a cheap shot hit in. I don't recall the Huskers doing that to your NT, but maybe I missed it.

the refs could have missed it, but sometimes people misunderstand that blocks below the waist between the tackles are legal and regular. It is only a penalty if the player is engaged with another lineman

Which is what happened.

 

[Sargon]

Definitely dirty and all regular BYU opponents know it.

Rewatch the game. 2 20 43 all did multiple BS shots late to the legs/out of bounds hits too (recall on Moore and Imani but there were more.). Westy was out for a while from one. Moore had a leg injury after a run play not to his side so it wasn't on cam no doubt it was yet another cheap shot.

NU did not retaliate (kinda irked me) but for the post interception push in the back which of course was called.

 

[NebraskaShellback]

Well, if the coaches feel that some calls were wrong or missed, they can send it in to the B1G office for review and state who the refs were. Plus, for safety issues to the NCAA

 

[knapplc]

The officials didn't cost us the game, our poor hail mary defensive scheme did that to ourselves, I just wanted to give you guys some input from our end.

Can't stress this enough. Despite Preator's head-hunting (knee hunting), the refs and their mistakes did not cost us a win. It cost a few penalties here and there, and could have cleaned the game up a lot.

The refs had a bad game. But this is not being used as an excuse as to why BYU won/Nebraska lost. Let's all be really clear on that.

 

[knapplc]

I'm rewatching the game now, so I will add to this post as it goes along.

First, during the first Nebraska drive when Moore runs the ball out of the fly sweep, I see two things: 1) he has some great speed and could have got a more from that run but step out of bounds and 2) #20 Preator drops his shoulders to hit Moore after Moore step out of bounds about 5 yds earlier. No flag, no response by anyone actually (refs, announcers, coaches, players, or crowd). Maybe it was so early in the game, everyone was just happy to have football back.

Later in the drive, #20 cuts Westy at the knees with a shoulder tackle instead of trying to wrap him up after the catch (this was after Jordan's second catch of the drive).

This did get a reaction from the crowd. It might not have been audible, but there was a lot of WTH/wth's from the crowd. Just grumbling, but at that point it was the first one so people thought it was just a poor play, not a trend that would continue.

Yes, it did. Everyone was saying "Whoa" instead of booing. The boos came later when this stuff kept happening.

 

[Igetbored216]

The officials didn't cost us the game, our poor hail mary defensive scheme did that to ourselves, I just wanted to give you guys some input from our end.

Can't stress this enough. Despite Preator's head-hunting (knee hunting), the refs and their mistakes did not cost us a win. It cost a few penalties here and there, and could have cleaned the game up a lot.

The refs had a bad game. But this is not being used as an excuse as to why BYU won/Nebraska lost. Let's all be really clear on that.

No, it definitely didn't cost us the game, it just pisses me off that he was out there purposefully trying to take people out. It's not like Sutton was the only player he hit right in the knees, although it definitely was the most ugly to see on the replay. Once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend. He was definitely trending.

 

[California Husker]

Okay, BYU fan....if you can't see how dirty your players are, you are VERY myopic. Yeah, Husker fans tend to be myopic about things at times too, but BYU football right now does not reflect the good people of your state and the church that the college is affiliated with. I want to say that, while I am not a Mormon, all of the Mormons I have ever known were wonderful people and this football team reflects very poorly on the university, the church, and the entire state of Utah. I know that all the players on the team don't come from Utah and they aren't all Mormons, but the casual fan sees the antics of your team and it looks bad for your school and your state.

I don't know if Bronco Mendenhall cares about this, or maybe this comes from him? But something has to change and to be honest HE has to change it. I know what you might be thinking...people in glass houses, blah, blah, blah...but when Nebraska had serious coach issues that were hurting the perception of the University, the AD took a major step to change Nebraska's image. The AD fired a coach that was hurting NU's national public perception (whether completely deserved or not) and hired the exact opposite. It was a controversial move in Nebraska and among Nebraska fans all over the country, but it could be argued that even if Nebraska doesn't win any more than it did with Bo, the university's image and the way that it's perceived is as important as winning football games.

I know BYU is trying to shed the image of being a WAC team who is rather undeserving of their one gift national title; trying to build a reputation by playing some of the traditional powerhouses. So they open with Nebraska on national television...and they get a win...good for them. But the cheap shots and dirty play isn't lost on true college football fans and when that is on display on such a large stage the program will continue to be perceived as bush league. Mendenhall needs to get a handle on this sooner rather than later.

 

[ZRod]

Definitely dirty and all regular BYU opponents know it.

Rewatch the game. 2 20 43 all did multiple BS shots late to the legs/out of bounds hits too (recall on Moore and Imani but there were more.). Westy was out for a while from one. Moore had a leg injury after a run play not to his side so it wasn't on cam no doubt it was yet another cheap shot.

NU did not retaliate (kinda irked me) but for the post interception push in the back which of course was called.

Westerkamp had a cramp, it was not from a dirty hit at all. It was clean.

 

[NUFan8]

Okay, BYU fan....if you can't see how dirty your players are, you are VERY myopic. Yeah, Husker fans tend to be myopic about things at times too, but BYU football right now does not reflect the good people of your state and the church that the college is affiliated with. I want to say that, while I am not a Mormon, all of the Mormons I have ever known were wonderful people and this football team reflects very poorly on the university, the church, and the entire state of Utah. I know that all the players on the team don't come from Utah and they aren't all Mormons, but the casual fan sees the antics of your team and it looks bad for your school and your state.

I don't know if Bronco Mendenhall cares about this, or maybe this comes from him? But something has to change and to be honest HE has to change it. I know what you might be thinking...people in glass houses, blah, blah, blah...but when Nebraska had serious coach issues that were hurting the perception of the University, the AD took a major step to change Nebraska's image. The AD fired a coach that was hurting NU's national public perception (whether completely deserved or not) and hired the exact opposite. It was a controversial move in Nebraska and among Nebraska fans all over the country, but it could be argued that even if Nebraska doesn't win any more than it did with Bo, the university's image and the way that it's perceived is as important as winning football games.

I know BYU is trying to shed the image of being a WAC team who is rather undeserving of their one gift national title; trying to build a reputation by playing some of the traditional powerhouses. So they open with Nebraska on national television...and they get a win...good for them. But the cheap shots and dirty play isn't lost on true college football fans and when that is on display on such a large stage the program will continue to be perceived as bush league. Mendenhall needs to get a handle on this sooner rather than later.

Seriously? Why does everything have to be about religion with all of you. Has nothing to do with it. I don't even think Preator is LDS. He's a young kid playing college football. He's not out there intentionally trying to hurt someone. I thought you guys played "big boy" football. I seriously enjoyed my time in Lincoln and was treated well by most people. Your fanbase prides yourself on being courteous, and most people were. A number of times walking down the street were heard negative "Mormon" comments. I know that this isn't the thought of most people and almost everyone that I've talked to that went to the game loved the experience, but after hearing all of you on this board, I'm starting to change my mind a little bit.