Occassionally, Statefansnation will run some reviews of what we consider to be headscratching calls from NC State games.
I can understand some people thinking that this feature may be nitpicking (since we won the game) and some will think it is inconsequential (because we won the game). But, why does a team have to LOSE the game to make any difference as to the accuracy of the calls? Additionally, others will think that discussing this type of stuff after a loss would be even more of a “whine”. So, the best way to deal with this is to be consistent and focus only on the ‘micro’ of the individual plays irregardless of the overall outcome of the games.
We’re not looking to necessarily highlight EVERY ‘headscratcher’ from Wolfpack games, but sometimes certain calls/non-calls require a little extra focus (especially when the incompetence of your conference’s officials has recently been brought to the attention of the nation.)
For the most part, we thought that Saturday’s 20-15 win in Tallahassee was well officiated. I was not as familiar with this officiating crew as one of the conferences normal keystone cops…so, maybe we will see more of this crew in the future based on an overall decent performance.
But, nobody is perfect; and these guys made a couple of pretty bad blunders on Saturday that have caused us to scratch our heads:
(1) FSU touchdown call / Replay Review / Spot of ball at the 3 yard line
In the first half of Saturday’s game, FSU running back A. Smith ran out of bounds just inside the 5 yard line with his left foot. His right foot then came down far out of bounds at the 3 yard line as he then dove for the end zone. How did the refs screw this up? Let me count the ways.
First, the officials on the field gave Smith a touchdown after both of his feet had clearly landed out of bounds prior to his lunge for the end zone. That was bad enough…but thank goodness that we have instant replay! Right? Not necessarily.
After review in the booth, the replay officials correctly voided the touchdown, but then gave Florida State the ball on the NC State 3 yard line, despite the fact that Smith was obviously out of bounds at the 5 yard line. Click here for the picture and ponder with us how this merits a spot at the 3 yard line?
(2) No penalty: FSU’s AJ Nicholson uppercuts NC State’s Quarterback to the head:
With 9:06 remaining in the 3rd quarter, NC State’s Marcus Stone (QB) and FSU’s AJ Nicholson (LB) punished each other as Stone was racing for the sidelines. Stone got the better of the situation and embarassed Nicholson, a linebacker, on the hit. After the hit, the two stood toe to toe and obviously had words for each other. In response to the words Nicholson chose to deliver a shot to Stone’s face/head directly in front of an official and was not flagged for a penalty.
(a) Stone & Nicholson just before blow to the face: click here
(b) Nicholson’s post-play uppercut to the head of NC State’s quarterback: click here
Can you imagine the amount of flags that would have been thrown if an “undisciplined” NC State player had blatantly struck an opposing quarterback in the head more than 10 seconds after a play had ended?
