Head Shots on Denard?

Submitted by Swayze Howell Sheen on

Am I just a typical homer, or did anyone else notice that some of the Irish defense were getting their hands and forearms on Denard's head, even when he was just sitting back there in the pocket (say, after a throw)? 

I should go find the instances I saw in the torrent, but too lazy.

Jayshmie007

September 12th, 2010 at 9:41 AM ^

I did see some of that as well. Nothing I did see was overly done though. The refs were right infront of the plays and never called ANYTHING! I wish I had a penalty breakdown disperity of the game just to see what went down numbers wise. Refs were plain and simply terrible. Glad we got out of there with a W.

MH20

September 12th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^

I did notice that, as well.  Hell, even the homerrific Tom Hammond was commenting on contact to Denard's facemask/helmet.

But was it called?  Hahahahahaha.

Blatant holding against our D-line?  Nah.

Dave Witvoet is a fucking moron.

michiganfanforlife

September 12th, 2010 at 9:53 AM ^

how about all the phantom clipping and holding plays they called against us? Those things are drive killers, and we would have been up by so much more in the second half if they would have just let us play...

MichiganStudent

September 12th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^

Completely agree. That "crack back block" was absolutely BS. That was a block that, even if I was a ND ref, that I couldn't have called because it didn't even look like a penalty. 

 

And OP, they definitely were going after Denards head. I remember seeing him get like a jab to the face from a ND lineman on a pass play. Absolute BS. If that was the NFL (since they're extremely protective of QB's) he would have probably been fined, or at the very least penalized for 15 yards. 

BIN

September 12th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^

where Denard rolled to the right and after he threw the ball a ND defenred ran up and smacked him in the helmet right in front of the ref.  The ref was only 10 - 12 yards away.  No call.  It seems as though you could call their O-line for holding on just about every play the past two years with last year being worse than this year.  I like to think our griping means more after a victory rather than it sounding like sour grapes after a loss.  ND should be called for more penalties and NBC doesn't help when they are too busy talking about things like ND's new S & C giving them the edge in the 4th quarter rather than calling what they see in the game.  I think I just threw up a little bit.

hisurfernmi

September 12th, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^

I totally agree that if we had lost and complained about the reffing, we all would just be ridiculed that we are sore losers.  The refs missed many blatant calls and I noticed later the hands to the face on a couple plays.  I'm also not so sure about the Helmet to Helmet tackle late in the game on Mike Shaw when he got shook up after the catch down the sidelines that his foot slipped out.  The refs definitely were not protecting the players like they should have been.

Glad we won, but that game was not officiated very well at all. 

newfoundhbomb

September 12th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^

i also noticed alot of holding going on our defensive 3 that wasn't being called.  I noticed alot of plays when Roh was being held and it wasn't called and that phantom touchdown hurts when a ref is clearly seen on the bottom of the tv looking right at the player and doesn't call it.  the marshall play was difficult because the refs were behind and running to catch up to the play but this guy was right there looking at it

Gulo Gulo Luscus

September 12th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^

for all the (justified) bitching we're doing about shots to the face, denard took it all in stride.   as a matter of pure speculation, i wonder if being "a combination of a decent quarterback and the nation's best running back" (Andy Staples) may mean less protection from the refs than a traditional pocket QB will get.

NOLA Wolverine

September 12th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^

I wasn't so much concerned with the arms getting near his head as I was with Teo and that #22 player going head to head on him multiple times. That's pretty dangerous not only for Michigan football, but his wellbeing later on in life. It's really not how football should be played.

TheOracle6

September 12th, 2010 at 6:35 PM ^

There were so many holding penaties that were not called on ND.  Mike Martin was getting held on every play, and after the game Mike was quoted as saying that the refs kept giving Notre Dame warnings while just throwing the flag on Michigan.  It is nice to know that we beat ND, the rainbow, Jesus opening the clouds, and the refs all in one game. 

SaigonBlue

September 13th, 2010 at 12:41 AM ^

There were several, and one in particular where the nd player smacked him on the side of the helmet with the inside of his forearm.  This happened well after Denard threw the ball, and when he was on or very near to being down on the ground.  AND, it happened right in front of the ref.  NO CALL.