Change one play
A friend linked this brief article on Facebook, and I thought it might be a fun offseason hypothetical to kick around for a bit. The gist of the article is, if you could change one single play in the history of sports, what would it be?
For me, there are two close contenders. First, have us make that late field goal against OSU in the year of the tie & subsequent illegal "vote". Bo then gets the best shot he'd ever have at a national crown. Second, I'd say change the ruling on the goal review from the UMD National Championship loss in hockey back in 2011. Shawn Hunwick gets his crown, and the greatest underdog story in sports history has its perfection completion.
What do you guys think?
http://deadspin.com/if-you-could-change-the-outcome-of-one-play-which-w…
KNOCK IT DOWN!
Missed FG vs App St. Not sure how the rest of that season would have played out if they would've won but still fun to think about.
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Chuck was the inside DB on that play. He knocks it down, game over. Instead it got knocked up and bounced over/past Ty.
I would also like to say the play also probably doesn't happen if we had a couple guys standing on the goal line at the snap. By time the ball got to the goal line, the players were just arriving, so no time to set up before trying to knock it down.
and 15 seconds to throw didn't help either.
Damien Anderson dropped probably the easiest TD pass moments before.
Then Thomas runs through a rather large hole only to somehow fumble.
NW recovers and some QB named Zack Kustok who was on fire all day throws the winning pass.
Hands down.
I thought it was a late hit out of bounds. Regardless I know we are talking about the same call. 100% agreed.
That is the one that immediately came to my mind. We would have probably played for the title that year.
+1
I remember being positive it was a bad call when it happened. I complained about it for weeks at work, and I was bitter.
Then about 5-6 years ago I forced myself to watch the replay of that game, when that hit came my reaction was "oh snap, yeah that was totally an illegal hit" :)
you are now looking at the play through a much different set of rules. Yeah in 2015 that is a clearly illegal hit. But those hits are called radically differently now in 2015 than they were in 2006. There has been a massive MASSIVE emphasis on making any helmet contact illegal.
Back in 2006 that was a very borderline call. Just that same season. make even the same week in the USC/UCLA game the UCLA QB had gotten clocked/speared in the helmet in almost the exact same play and not only had it not drawn a flag, but the hit was used in the ABC promo for college football for a while was being a "great play/big hit". Helmet hits were not yet being scrutanized in 2006 the way they are now.
So yeah, in 2015, it is an auto flag. It certainly was NOT in 2006. If that play hadn't been in Columbus on the Ohio State sideline, I doubt it draws a flag. At the time, it was a total homer call.
I re-watched that game again in 2008-2009, not 2015.
May want to watch the play again, that was totally a late hit, and helmet to helmet. It was the right call man.
Troy had thrown the ball already as he was going out of bounds. There was nothing borderline about it. In the UCLA-USC game, the QB was scrambling and still technically in bounds when he got popped. That was the borderline hit. If I was still a ref, I'd flag both hits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOmGMGUDPbk
I don't think it's a bad call but it's definitely not as obvious as it would be now. Allow me to submit this 2006-2008 NFL best hits video as evidence.
At the time I remember thinking and others saying that hit in Columbus is probably getting flagged, if it was in AA probably not getting flagged, if it was at a neutral site, 50-50.
That was my first thought too, but it's arguable. The stakes are huge, obviously, but we're still down 4 with 5-6 minutes left if we get the stop there. Certainly no guarantee of winning the game.
I mean, look at the rest of that game--you really think the offense putting up a score was out of the question? Sure, not a guarantee, but... Come on.
That call happened on 3rd & long. If the call doesn't happen, OSU has 4th down and punts. Instead, they got 15 yards and a first down, and went on to score a TD to go up by 11.
Michigan marched down the field and scored a TD on the ensuing possession. Granted, we were down by 11 at that point and maybe were more aggressive than we might have been down 4, but still. I will always believe that call cost us the game.
We had all momentum up until that point. I believed we would win until Crable did what most of us would have done. I bet in this day an age of football he pulls up.
Yeah, that or any one of Troy Smith's second-half third down scrambles in the '05 Game. We get him one of those times, Ohio punts, Michigan wins.
If the penalty isn't called, OSU faces 4th and 15 from the 38 with roughtly 6:00 left in the game. Does OSU go for it? Probably not. But the way that game was going, they would have converted on a slant-and-run to Tedd Ginn Jr.
Wasn't Crable also the one who whiffed on the guy who blocked the FG against App State?
But I would have to say the Charles White "TD" in the Rose Bowl! Michigan wins no questions asked!
But maybe it is "endow officials with vision" rather than "change play."
Retroactively install instatnt replay for all calls and penalties starting in 1970.
2. Webber's timeout
3. Burke's foul/completely not a foul against Louisville
4. Sheed never would have left Horry
I defended the hell our of Sheed dropping down for the double team after that game. I still like the decision, just... horry.
Funny, Tim Jr. posted this recently on Instagram...
stares at the ref. Drops the ball in disgust and walks away, ball still bouncing where he stood. . ..
They were only down 3 and probably would've taken the ball back down on a fastbreak to bring it within 1.
absolutely would have. Timmy was heating up, Louisville was starting to tire. I really believe we would won that game comfortably (4-6 points) if that doesn't get called.
If the bagman didn't get to the refs on that one.
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But then again, if we win that game is Hoke still here?
100% agree with the play and the concern. I really thought Devin deserved that one though.
two years ago now. So, unless that conversion somehow changes 2014 (I don't think it would have) he's still gone after a 5-7 season last year and concussion-gate
It was one of the greatest blocks in college basketball history. Totally clean too. There needs to be a gif for that block, followed first by amazement, then utter shock that the ref some how decided it was a foul. That and the dude that punch McGary in the nuts should have been banned from college forever.
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You're right, I cried a little typing it . . . .
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Such a great block, what a load of BS this foul call was...
that was only the 3rd or 4th worst blown call to go against Michigan in that game.
The foul that was called on the wrong Louisville player and should have fouled Hancock out of the game was arguably even worse.
I'm going to be mad about that till the day I die
God damn it, I was having a good day today.