FROM POOR WORK BY OFFICIALS ... TO DEFENSE OF BOWL GAMES

 

Weekend Watch No. 1 … \\

If you like bad officiating, Friday night’s Virginia 

Tech/Minnesota Mayonnaise Bowl was the place to be. 

For example, on back-to-back passes down the right 

sideline the defensive back, back to the ball, twice 

collided with the intended receiver before it ever got 

there. Then we got some terrible explanation from the 

rules expert in ESPN’s booth … something about not 

enough contact worthy of a flag on the second non-

call. Come again? … On the VaTech sideline, coach

 BRENT PRY obviously disagreed … and was hit 

with a penalty.

“We’ve called a number of Tech games, and I’ve never 

seen him that upset,” said ESPN’s BRETT BARRIE. 

“I saw pass interference. Brent Pry saw pass 

interference. What did you see? … I say, if they’re 

going to call it like this … be consistent.”… Of course, 

if Hokie quarterbacks had been as adept at throwing 

the football deep as their receivers were getting open 

behind the Gopher secondary, interference would not 

have been a problem … or continuously missed by 

game officials from the Southeastern Conference … 

Likewise, Tech missed several golden opportunities. 

Twice the Hokies had first and goal and failed to score. 

Another drive died at the Gophers’ 20 when a fourth-

down pass inside the 15 fell incomplete.

Not all was bad for Tech (6-7) in Charlotte’s Second 

String Classic … JOHN LOVE booted a 60-yard field 

goal, longest of his career and one yard shy of the 

school record, to send the Hokies into the halftime 

break all smiles … despite trailing 21-10 en route to 

bowing 24-10.

Playing without 13 starters, Tech had a chance to make 

it really interesting after DANTE LOVETT

 intercepted a pass deep in Minnesota territory with 

7:03 left. But, after three straight tackles for losses,

 WILLIAM “POP” WATSON’s pass on fourth-and-

goal from the 14 went straight to Gophers’ ZA’QUAN 

BRYAN. “MINNESOTA’S DEFENSE DOES IT 

AGAIN!” yelled Barrie. Game over. Or, as Barrie put 

it, “Game, set and mayo.”

-------  Boy, is Ole Miss coach LANE KIFFIN (cliché 

alert) a piece of work. No question he loves attention 

… and knows how to get it … by saying outrageous 

things, some of which are actually true … to the 

delight of the media assigned to cover him … Never a 

dull moment with Kiffin … who told the world how 

great the SEC was … even after Oregon and Georgia, 

seeded 1-2, both lost in the bye round. “There’s the 

NFL … then the SEC and some like Notre Dame … up 

here … while the ACC and then rest are way down 

here,” said Kiffin … clearly upset his Rebels weren’t 

included in the FBS playoffs … and took it out on 

over-matched Duke 52-20. He even threw a TD pass to 

rub it in late in the going then went on TV with his QB

 JAXSON DART (400-plus yards passing) and said, 

almost with a straight face, that Dart “did something 

he’s not supposed to do … and that’s change the call at 

the line of scrimmage.” … Too bad ESPN didn’t 

bother to put a camera on Dart’s face. All we saw 

throughout the interview with Kiffin was a side shot of 

the senior QB, head down.

-------  On the subject of poor officiating … did you 

see the helmet-to-helmet hit Texas safety MICHAEL 

TAAFE put on Arizona State receiver MELQUAN 

STOVALL with 1:02 left in their playoff matchup?… 

“It meets all the criteria for targeting,” said former 

official and CBS rules expert GENE STERATORE.

 Oh, really? The crack crew from the Big 10 

Conference didn’t think so. 

Had it been called correctly, Taafe would have been 

expelled and been forced to miss the first half of next 

week’s semifinal with Ohio State … Arizona State 

would have had a first down instead of punting … and 

wound up losing in double OT … Naturally, Texas 

coach STEVE SARKISIAN rushed to Taafe’s 

defense and, thereby, added to the ever-growing list of 

stupid comments by leaders of young men. “We don’t 

play flag football,” he began. The rest wasn’t any 

better.

Finally, words to live by … from Barrie, who called 

the Tech game on ESPN with analyst AARON 

MURRAY: “Anyone who thinks there are too many 

bowl games needs to warm up their mayo and drink it.” 

So help me… MAYO.

Until next time ...