[TXMike]

From the Louisville Courier - Journal:

Thanks, but this 'oops' comes too late for Cardinals
Eric Crawford

The great Kentucky politician Henry Clay once said, "I'd rather be right than be president."

He'd never have made it as a football coach.

Being right is not worth much today to University of Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe and his Cardinals, after an acknowledged blown call at Connecticut helped them fall to 4-4 on the season in a 21-17 loss.

The play needs little rehash for Cardinals fans. UConn punt returner Larry Taylor got away with signaling fleetingly for a fair catch -- meaning he was protected from being tackled in exchange for the ball being downed where he caught it. That signal prompted coverage-team players from both teams to pull up. But after catching the ball, Taylor ran 74 yards for a touchdown. And officials let it stand.

Yesterday, the Big East Conference announced that commissioner Mike Tranghese acknowledges that officials made a mistake on the call. Associate commissioner John Paquette added that Tranghese "deemed it serious enough to warrant action."

Nobody is saying what that action is.

It's the second time in three years U of L has received a mea culpa from the Big East on a blatant officiating error. The last time -- a botched onside-kick call that helped West Virginia come back for an overtime win -- helped cost U of L a trip to a Bowl Championship Series game. This one could help cost the Cardinals a trip to a bowl game, period.

Notice I said "help." U of L lost Friday because it couldn't hold a 10-point lead with 11 ½ minutes to play. It lost because its defense couldn't get late stops. It lost because its offense couldn't put away the game.

But this call played its part. It woke up a lackluster Huskies team that had been scoreless to that point.

Penalizing sportsmanship

It did something more troubling than that, though.

It penalized sportsmanship. It rewarded the deliberate flouting of a rule -- and not just a rule, but a rule designed to protect the player who was taking advantage of it.

The NCAA rule is clear. Any variation of a raised-hand signal should result in the ball being dead where it is caught.

Somehow, these officials weren't clear. After Taylor ran for the touchdown, Kragthorpe was beside himself.

Because he was right. And because officials not only didn't listen, they determined that the play could not be reviewed. The Big East yesterday agreed that fair-catch signals can't be reviewed. I say that's a matter of interpretation. The replay rules clearly allow fielded kicks to be reviewed, and what is a fair catch if not a fielded kick?

Regardless, it gets worse. After the game, Taylor told The Hartford Courant, "I talked to the official right before the play … and he said I had to get my hand high up in the air so he could see it. … I didn't really put my hand up. I was just playing a mind game with the defender."

So at least one official knew what was going on and played along.

Bad call on bad day

Here's what should happen.

These officials should acknowledge their errors publicly. Coaches and players and columnists do it all the time.

Taylor, instead of laughing about the play and dancing around on the sideline, should've shown some respect to a player who played within the rules and refused to nail him with a cheap shot.

And Connecticut coach Randy Edsall, instead of hiding behind Big East guidelines to refrain from discussions of controversial calls as he did yesterday, should have made a clear statement on where he stands on Taylor's tactic.

I'm not saying the Huskies didn't earn the win. They came from 10 down in the fourth quarter. And bad calls are part of every game.

But some are worse than others. And this was one of them