Does NU ever get a break, while the opponent got the screw job?

[Count 'Bility]

Probably the most famous Husker Bias call was the clipping that wasn't called on the Johnny Rodgers punt return in the Game of the Century.

Honestly, do you think that white boy from OU woulda caught Johnny anyways, think about this, that's what bugs me about some thinkin that was a clip, it doesnt matter, Rodgers was just turning on that 5.0 forty jet speed. :sarcasm

 

[Jeremy]

Saw that too, knapp. I'd say the clips they showed from the Cotton Bowl were some of the worst displays of sportsmanship, or lackthereof, ever.

Not that I felt bad for Texas...

 

[Hingle McCringleberry]

Outside of the mid-west NU was known as a dirty team in the mid 90's. I remember hearing reports that we didn't get calls because the NCAA, and bowl sponsors, wanted NU (or any team for that matter) to win, and not another Florida team, especially Miami. Although outside of the miracle in Missouri play, I cannot offer any huge plays where that may of been the case.

Speaking of "dirty teams," did anyone else catch the ESPN show by that independent filmmaker about the Miami Hurricanes? They were boasting about how they liked to swear at, spit at, and in any other way intimidate opposing players. They showed a highlight reel of fights, swearing, dirty plays and outright mockery of their opponents, then had various players from the last decade or two sitting in the studio giving interviews, laughing about it, talking about how great it was that they "scared White America."

This is exactly the kind of nonsense that makes me :facepalm: when people talk about how "bad" our team and/or fans are. We're not always Boy Scouts. But there is much, much worse out there.

Yes I saw that also. That Miami/Texas game, in my mind, is the most horrible display of "sportsmanship" I have ever seen. The refs should of ejected the entire starting line up from Miami. I totally agree with you that seeing these guys 10+ years out and still laughing about what a-holes they were is unreal.

Also I should clarify, I do not think we played dirty in the 90's. When a team is at the top, and you lose to them, you find excuses as to why. When we rolled teams by 50, they said its because TO was running up the score. He would respond with "I have the third string in by half time, what else am I supposed to do". So people took to calling us dirty players. If you live outside of the NU sphere (ie east coast), that is all you need to hear. We got away with calls back then just as teams do now. Every game, almost every play, something is missed. In fact I saw a wrap up of a Bama game where they had 400+ yards, no INT, and NO PENALTY YARDS, now Bama is good and very disciplined, but your telling me NO ONE did anything wrong.

 

[cscott2win]

I'm sitting here trying to remember calls that went our way but can't seem to recall any except for the ones previously mentioned. I am 100 % sure that we've had as many go our way as not. It's just that examples such as Penn State' L shaped field, Florida State getting a td a yard short and the refs saving Charlie Ward for bball season, and many others seem to take up what little memory I have left. I'm sure Beach Buffs could refresh our memories!!

 

[knapplc]

I'm sitting here trying to remember calls that went our way but can't seem to recall any except for the ones previously mentioned. I am 100 % sure that we've had as many go our way as not. It's just that examples such as Penn State' L shaped field, Florida State getting a td a yard short and the refs saving Charlie Ward for bball season, and many others seem to take up what little memory I have left. I'm sure Beach Buffs could refresh our memories!!

The difference is that in crucial, game-changing situations, it's awfully difficult to remember calls that went our way and which deleteriously affected a high-profile opponent. When's the last time we were in a big-time game, with a top opponent, and had a hugely controversial call that went our way? Games like Penn State, Florida State and the recent CCG all come to mind. When have we gotten the benefit of the doubt in a crucial situation in a big game like that? You could go back to the Wiggins "kick save" but then you'd have to say that Wiggins intentionally kicked that ball, and that's a huge judgment call that isn't supported by the video.

 

[74Hunter]

This whole Texas thing made me think...does NU only get the shaft on calls, or have we been the beneficiary of some, too?

The one that comes to mind for me was the "kick" that Matt Davison caught at Mizzoo. Come to find out, a purposeful tip of the ball with the foot turned out to be illegal, if the player "meant" to do it. I remember Larry Smith of Mizzoo just shaking his head at the "no call" on the play. He later expressed something to the effect of "Nebraska gets the benefit of every call."

Of course, we all took the win and went on and won the national championship, no questions asked.

But did our player "intend" to kick it? Of course he meant to kick it.

I'm not intending to start a flame war here, just curious though: What instances do you recall where NU clearly got away with one?

I know that this is going wayyyyyy back, but that Frost-Wiggins-Davison play WAS NOT illegal. The rules state that it is illegal to INTENTIONALLY kick a ball to ANOTHER player. After the game, Wiggins stated that he was doing anything he could to try to corral the ball. There have been quite a few times we have seen a player kick a ball, or have a ball hit his feet/legs and have the player make the catch himself, which again is not illegal. There is NO WAY possible you can tell me that Wiggins, with a defender on his back (interfering, AHEM), falling down could have known that Davison was going to come running from halfway across the field and 10 yards behind him, was gonna be laying out to make a miraculous catch. Did we get lucky, hell yeah, was it illegal, not under any circumstances.

As for NU being dirty in the 90’s, the explanation I always heard was that NU “chop blocked.” People did not understand that what NU was doing (lineman, wr’s, everyone) was called “cut blocking” and it was perfectly legal (because few teams cut blocked, they had no idea what the difference between a cut block and chop block was). I do think that we got a couple of calls on the “chop blocks” of Suh in the CCG. The first one was questionable, the second was a phantom chop block.

If the media was hating Florida teams at the time, it was only Miami. FSU was a media darling, and Florida was just on the cusp of arriving nationally. The national media disliked NU way more than FSU or UF, with the LP deal, and the fact that they hated TO’s option offense, they loved to bag on NU as much at every chance they could get.

 

[SaturnDrew]

This whole Texas thing made me think...does NU only get the shaft on calls, or have we been the beneficiary of some, too?

The one that comes to mind for me was the "kick" that Matt Davison caught at Mizzoo. Come to find out, a purposeful tip of the ball with the foot turned out to be illegal, if the player "meant" to do it. I remember Larry Smith of Mizzoo just shaking his head at the "no call" on the play. He later expressed something to the effect of "Nebraska gets the benefit of every call."

Of course, we all took the win and went on and won the national championship, no questions asked.

But did our player "intend" to kick it? Of course he meant to kick it.

I'm not intending to start a flame war here, just curious though: What instances do you recall where NU clearly got away with one?

I know that this is going wayyyyyy back, but that Frost-Wiggins-Davison play WAS NOT illegal. The rules state that it is illegal to INTENTIONALLY kick a ball to ANOTHER player. After the game, Wiggins stated that he was doing anything he could to try to corral the ball. There have been quite a few times we have seen a player kick a ball, or have a ball hit his feet/legs and have the player make the catch himself, which again is not illegal. There is NO WAY possible you can tell me that Wiggins, with a defender on his back (interfering, AHEM), falling down could have known that Davison was going to come running from halfway across the field and 10 yards behind him, was gonna be laying out to make a miraculous catch. Did we get lucky, hell yeah, was it illegal, not under any circumstances.

As for NU being dirty in the 90’s, the explanation I always heard was that NU “chop blocked.” People did not understand that what NU was doing (lineman, wr’s, everyone) was called “cut blocking” and it was perfectly legal (because few teams cut blocked, they had no idea what the difference between a cut block and chop block was). I do think that we got a couple of calls on the “chop blocks” of Suh in the CCG. The first one was questionable, the second was a phantom chop block.

If the media was hating Florida teams at the time, it was only Miami. FSU was a media darling, and Florida was just on the cusp of arriving nationally. The national media disliked NU way more than FSU or UF, with the LP deal, and the fact that they hated TO’s option offense, they loved to bag on NU as much at every chance they could get.

That play really could have been called either way. I remember the Big XII officials defended that decision, but of course they did that with the Texas game as well. One thing to recall though is that the play and game still cost Nebraska a "half" national championship as the AP voters dropped us in the polls, and Michigan went on rolling the rest of the semester. So even it was an illegal play, it still cost us, though not as much as it would have had the call gone the other way and ruled incomplete.

 

[Enhance]

Couple of things here:

1) The Davison Deflection can not be deemed illegal. Wiggins had his back turned to Matt, the ball popped loose, he tried to corral it, and Matt made a miraculous diving catch. There is no way Wiggins saw Matt, nor was that part of the play. Merely luck. If you think otherwise (cough Missouri fans), than I suggest a little less drinking of the MU koolaid.

2) That "block in the back" in the Johnny Rodgers punt return really could go either way. From that angle it looks like he got the side or maybe the back right shoulder pad of the Oklahoma defender. The Nebraska blocker was coming in from a side angle. I don't see why in that situation you could call block in the back, but I'm sure OU fans might argue otherwise.

3) Big difference between cut blocks, chop blocks, illegal blocks, etc. You can go for a players legs to take him out of that play, but one distinction is that you can't use your legs to trip. Marcel Jones, earlier in the season, got called for an illegal block below the waist because as he was going down to cut block, his legs came out from under him and tripped the defender.

4) Calls go both ways. Happens all the time. That's what makes sports interesting, because there is the human element involved.

 

[Enhance]

For those of you who are interested, here is a pretty interesting powerpoint I found that explains blocking. It differentiates between cut blocking, blocking below the waist, the free blocking zone, etc. It's a good look through for anybody who doesn't know what is legal and what is illegal as far as blocking is concerned.

**EDIT** Forgot to add the link, my bad.

home.comcast.net/~minnmo/football/blockingpresentation.ppt

 

[husker_99]

If Hagg turns around to play the ball instead of staring at the opposing WR, then most of those pass interferences probably don't get called.

Ok the problem with those pass interference is that i have heard time and time again face guarding isn't illegal. That it is ok in college. The player doesn't have to turn his head around. I've seen plenty of times defenders face guarding and not getting called. Can someone clairify this with rules saying it is illegal?

 

[cscott2win]

I'm still trying to remember some calls we got. :dunno But as Knapple reminded me, not 1 that changed the outcome of a big game. The ticky/tack calls and missed calls happen to everyone.

 

[shyndy]

i can't remember what ones exactly but I was thinking we got a couple to go our way against K-State this year. But nothing ever as big as some of the big time mess ups we've had can i remember. The tricky thing about that kick against mizzou, is does it really look like he kicks it up intentionally? I think that no kick rule is kind of in there so you cant look like you are punting, kick it to one of your recievers and get a first down or whatever.

Also, that is totally not a clip on Rodgers return

 

[shyndy]

If Hagg turns around to play the ball instead of staring at the opposing WR, then most of those pass interferences probably don't get called.

Ok the problem with those pass interference is that i have heard time and time again face guarding isn't illegal. That it is ok in college. The player doesn't have to turn his head around. I've seen plenty of times defenders face guarding and not getting called. Can someone clairify this with rules saying it is illegal?

thing is, the same thing happened to us earlier in that game, and maybe the Texas guy actually bumped Paul a little more, not even a though of a call on that play.

 

[husker_99]

If Hagg turns around to play the ball instead of staring at the opposing WR, then most of those pass interferences probably don't get called.

Ok the problem with those pass interference is that i have heard time and time again face guarding isn't illegal. That it is ok in college. The player doesn't have to turn his head around. I've seen plenty of times defenders face guarding and not getting called. Can someone clairify this with rules saying it is illegal?

thing is, the same thing happened to us earlier in that game, and maybe the Texas guy actually bumped Paul a little more, not even a though of a call on that play.

Cause then if they are calling penalties that aren't penalties well then we do have some beef with that.

 

[HuskerMoon]

I remember Larry Smith of Mizzoo just shaking his head at the "no call" on the play. He later expressed something to the effect of "Nebraska gets the benefit of every call."

What do Larry Smith, Paul "Bear" Bryant and Dan Devine all have in common?