Is the clock shown on the TV the same as the field clock or did the clock run almost 30 sec off during the 4th queater after the ball went out of bounds?

Also I thought in the 4th down play the nearer official had a better look at the spot but the crew went with the futher official.

Just your thoughts.

I completly agree on you assessment that the nearer official had a better view plus it was the correct spot. If you watched closely he never came off his spot until R backed out. I don't know if he was over ruled on the field or what. Given the replay the farther official couldn't even see the ball.

From what I could see the nearer offical mentioned to the REF that he had the spot but when the ref asked the other official he was very firm that he had the spot.

If someone has a replay on this that would be great.

On the 30 seconds run off, the covering official called him IN bounds - this was not a clock problem, it was the linesman. I was SCREAMING at the linesman on that one - it was obvious he was still moving forward when he went out - forward progress wasn't the issue.

Reminded me of an official during a little league blowout game that tends to rule anything close as in-bounds, just to keep the clock going.

That's my thinking exactly.

I did not see the official wind the clock - my bad ;-P~~~~~

On the 4th down play the offical on tv side had correct spot. This should have not even been close.

And speaking of clock manangement, I really thought USC should have punted with 2 minutes left or so and the ball at mid-field. Going for it was too much of a risk. At good punt would have made the final drive that much more difficult for Texas. Given that they scored the winning TD with just seconds to go, you have to assume they wouldn't have made it.

I think that choice should have been reviewed.

If they had punted it would of only added to Vince Young's total yardage. There was no way USC was going to stop Young

When the player went out of bounds and the linesman kept the clock going I thought he had a brain fart and would stop it when it occured to him what he had done, but it just kept going.

Jim D. I'm with you....just one time I would like to turn around (I'm a linesman) and say to the coach "that was the stupidest call I've ever seen". But of course the officials are the only ones who make "stupid" calls! ;)

Actually, I thought going for it was a smart decision, in that when 3rd down ended, I was PRAYING he'd punt. I (and he) didn't think we had any hope of stopping White on that short of a run. If they make it, they essentially win the game, and we had not stopped them a SINGLE time in the 2nd half... not once.

Also, their punter and coverage teams suck. It was entirely possible he was afraid to punt in that situation, for fear that we'd block it or score on a runback. All going for it did was give us an extra 20 yards or so. And Young would have made up for that (perhaps burning that last timeout that we'd saved, if necessary).

In an even worse decision, why did USC burn their last timeout on the two point try by Texas. I don't care if they only had four players on the field. Give Texas the two points and save the timeout to maybe get your field goal team on the field at the end of the game.

PS- I was rooting to Texas since they are Big XII.

There is a reason that USC's kicker longest FG was 43 years before last night.