Should Randy Edsall have been flagged for throwing his headset in the air?

Submitted by Muttley on

Yes, to take my mind off of the results on the field, I'm resorting to posting about interesting side technicalities (at least to me).  I'm not trying to imply that we might have won, because I can't muster any emotion for that.  (It's weird watching Michigan with curiosity but without emotion.)

After Maryland's Wes Brown was tackled for a 1 yard gain on 3rd-and-3 with 41 seconds left, the official in charge of starting the playclock did not immediately do so and thus the game was over (Michigan had no timeouts).

As the countdown ensued, Maryland Coach Randy threw his headset 30 feet in the air.

Now if a player had done that with his helmet, a personal foul would have been called, a 15 yard penalty would be assessed, and the clock stopped at ~30 seconds for a 4th-and-17 at the Michigan 35.

Why does the rule not apply to the coach?  Should it?  In fact, Randy Edsall was standing on the field when he did it.

Blue Since B.C.

November 24th, 2014 at 10:02 AM ^

No, but that doesn't mean he's not still a tool for doing it.  Same as Pat Fitzgerald jumping up and down 2 years ago in AA when we got flagged for a personal foul in the 4th, looking like he just won the Super Bowl.  Of course he deserved the Roundtree tip drill catch & triple OT loss after that.

Edsell will get what's coming to him in subsequent games against Mich.  Once we have a real coach, I hope we pile it on.  And I hope we do the same to Rutgers as payback for the bros rushing the field.

LJ

November 24th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^

The OP very clearly prefaced his comment by essentially saying "I know this didn't matter in the final outcome and am not trying to suggest so" and then you drop this as the very first comment.  He KNOWS it doesn't matter because the refs, players, and coaches sucked.  He wants to talk about that one thing in isolation from everything else.

Bluecamo

November 24th, 2014 at 9:19 AM ^

I thought the same exact thing when I saw him do that. Could have easily been flagged and probably should have. If a coach were to throw his headset like that at any other point in a game, he would immediately be flagged for Unsportsmanlike Conduct. I dont see why he shouldnt have been there as well, regardless if there were only 17 secs left. 

mfan_in_ohio

November 24th, 2014 at 9:21 AM ^

He has now taken up, in my mind, the mantle of "Coach of a mediocre Big Ten team that I irrationally loathe and hope bad things happen to" that once belonged to Danny Hope at Purdue.  

Arizona Blue

November 24th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^

I laughed to myself after the game. He was talking about the win like it was a super bowl victory that the kids would cherish forever. Be real dude, you just beat a 5-5 Michigan team with a lame duck coach. Biggggggggggggg WIN

JHendo

November 24th, 2014 at 9:27 AM ^

...that indeed was one of the biggest dick moves I've ever seen from a coach on the field.  Immature, unprofessional and disrespectful.  Edsall, Pat Fitzgerald and Jim Schwartz  must all go to the same coaching clinic during the offseason that seems to skip over the finer points of self-restraint and professionalism.

JTownMaize

November 24th, 2014 at 9:26 AM ^

Funny how both teams and refs tend to suck in the same year. If you're a good team, refs seem to be fair and you're team can overcome the bad calls while getting some in their favor. Michigan got bailed out with an offsides penalty vs Penn State, for example, and nobdy on Michigan's side really cared much because we won.

Perkis-Size Me

November 24th, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^

What difference would it have made? Even if Maryland doesn't attempt a long field goal to put the game on ice, that still likely pins us deep in our own territory with under a minute to go. There was nothing about our offense on Saturday that had me convinced we could've gone the length of the field and tied the game.

It would've just prolonged the inevitable.

Yo_Blue

November 24th, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^

I think I heard about a new rule regarding coaching penalties in the last minute.  The other team is awarded a touchdown and two point conversion.  The penalized team must then kick from their own 20, and the offending coach must stand nude in the middle of the field for the remainder of the game.

... or maybe I didn't hear about this.

Clarence Boddicker

November 24th, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^

Sounds like the yelp of a beaten cur. Maryland won, at the Big House, in their first year in the Big Ten. We celebrated hard enough when Hoke beat the post-Tressel, pre-Meyer Bucks, so yeah.

Padog

November 24th, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^

Crazy things happen and I personally was kind of mad that we did not at least get a chance to get the ball back. If the play clock is started on time we get at least a chance to return the punt for a touchdown. If a penalty is called like the OP mentioned we get 20 seconds after the punt. Two quick out of bounds passes to Funchess and then a hail mary and we could have tied it up. I do not want a bowl for Hoke, I want it for the players. Ty Isaac, Drake Harris, Moe Ways, Derrick Green, Shane Morris, all of the players that could use 15 more practices.

Yo_Blue

November 24th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^

I think you mean two quick dropped passes to Funchess followed by a Stanford-Cal type play that nets -12 yards and a fumble recovered by Maryland.

What confidence do you have that Funchess would catch ANYTHING thrown at him Saturday???

Mgoscottie

November 24th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^

is it legal for them to spot the ball and measure on a review?  I thought the ruling was you can review if it was a first down or not, but you can't review the spot of the ball.  If they couldn't tell if it was a first down upstairs it should have been that the call stands.  

Muttley

November 24th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^

The practical problem with it most of the time is that the player goes down away from any markings, so most of the time the spot of the referee is within the confidence interval of a TV-reviewed spot.

This time, the Maryland QB placed the ball right by the yard marker at the sideline, so the accuracy of the TV review was much better than the spot given by the ref. 

NittanyFan

November 24th, 2014 at 9:39 AM ^

Probably doesn't matter in the long-run, but his behavoir was definitely not appropriate.

Edsall really is a d-bag --- he's not really making any friends in the B1G East these days.

bo_lives

November 24th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^

but it seems to me the game is declared "over" once the playclock runs over the gameclock. Quite often you will see the winning team race out onto the field in celebration, yet I have never seen an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called in that situation.

As for the complaint about the playclock not starting on time... there's almost always a 2-3 second delay between the time the play is declared dead and the time the playclock starts. Maybe that's not how it's supposed to be, but it happens on virtually every play.

Gulo Blue

November 24th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^

No, and it sucks that anybody has a problem with people being happy enough to celebrate. Excessive celebration can be unsportmanlike. That doesn't mean we need to beat any sign of celebration out of the sport.