While most people were watching the opening of the NFL season Thursday night between the Steelers and Titans, there was also a college football game going on between Georgia Tech and Clemson. Since the college game started an hour earlier than the pro one, I’m guessing most people saw Georgia Tech run out to an early 24-0 and figured the thing was over and that Clemson was folding early in the year like they always do. Crazy thing about it is that Clemson actually didn’t pack it in despite the large deficit — they rallied to take the lead 27-24 in the fourth quarter. Tech got the ball back and drove to tie the game at 27 with a field goal, leaving just under six minutes on the clock. That’s around the time Clemson got screwed.
The Tigers were around midfield in a 3rd and 11 situation when they completed a long pass down the right side of the field (pictured) that would have taken them down into field goal range. Somehow, someway, a flag got thrown well after the catch was made and we found out there was a holding penalty called on the left guard of Clemson. The Georgia Tech defensive tackle was running out of steam rushing the quarterback and started to fall down, conceding defeat to the offensive lineman. As the Tech guy was losing ground and falling down, the Clemson lineman essentially fell on him to make sure he wouldn’t get up. And that’s what the referees said was holding. The 10-yard penalty turned things around from Clemson having the ball in field goal range to having a 3rd and 21 at their 34. They throw an incompletion, wind up punting, Tech takes the ball and drives down the field for the game-winning field goal.
Now I’m not saying that the Yellow Jackets wouldn’t have won the game but had that horrible call not been made Clemson would have had an excellent chance to take the lead — possibly for good. The call was so bad that the officials called a makeup holding call against Georgia Tech when the Jackets got the ball back. It was also so bad that even Georgia Tech fans acknowledged the terrible call that helped them win the game. It’s too bad the officials changed the game with one bad call like that. I wonder if they had some money on the Jackets.
Photo Credit: Charlotte Observer
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More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Absolute agreeance. One of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. Clemson got totally screwed, and the ACC PTB need to look into it.
You may find this hard to believe, but the *same official* who threw the bogus holding call in this game did the exact same thing in the previous Clemson-GT game last year! Late in that game Clemson got a long pass complete to the same WR to pick up a crucial third down to put them into position for the game-winning touchdown, but this same official threw a phantom holding call on the same Clemson offensive lineman! What are the chances of that?
There needs to be an investigation of this official by the ACC.
Both calls just go to show that as a whole ACC officials are second-rate. That’s not to say that all are bad, just average. Many don’t seem understand the rules or just have a strange interpretation. The don’t let the guys play. It seems they make certain calls just to show who’s in charge on the fields. I was out of the room when the first call was made, but saw a replay. The second call was pure make-up. My wife laughed when she saw it. I just wish it hadn’t been so obvious because it wasn’t even close. I just wonder if the commitee that deals with this thing for the ACC will handle it; the guy who made the first call should not be calling D1 games. Though there could be something to it, I don’t believe in some kind of conspiracy, I think he’s just plain stupid. The more I think about it, the madder I get, so I gotta go.
I lost my head when they showed the replay. I saw nothing even close to a hold and
knew that call cost the game. nothing more infuriating. Why something
like that cannot be challenged is beyond me.
It didnt come down to that play, football never comes down to one play. The thing is they should have scored a touchdown in the first half and that play wouldnt have made as big of a difference… if football was about just one play, we’d watch for 30 sec and leave after the play is over…