Big East on the UConn "Fair Catch"

[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

[sj]

What's always more interesting than the losing coaches reaction is the winning coaches reaction. And here it is. It's another classic....


On a day when the UConn football team received its first national ranking, the Big East was acknowledging that a mistake by conference officials likely was the cause for a game-turning play in Friday's 21-17 victory over Louisville.

UConn (6-1, 2-0 Big East) made its debut at No. 23 in the BCS standings. The BCS rankings are a combination of the USA Today coaches poll, the Harris Interactive Poll and the average of six computer rankings, excluding the highest and lowest computer rank.

UConn hosts South Florida (6-1, 1-1), ranked 10th in the BCS, on Saturday.

"It is a nice milestone for our program to be included in the BCS standings for the first time," UConn coach Randy Edsall said in a release from the school.

"It speaks well to the dedication of our players, coaches and staff, but right now our focus is entirely on Saturday's game against South Florida."

UConn is 29th in the Harris poll, 28th in the USA Today poll and was tied for 16th in the computer rankings. In the Associated Press media poll, which is not part of the BCS equation, UConn was 29th with 26 points. Rutgers (5-2, 2-1) is 25th with 174 points.

Sunday evening, an official from the Big East said that some sort of action will be taken against a member or members of the officiating crew that worked Friday's game at Rentschler Field, in which UConn's Larry Taylor scored on a controversial 74-yard punt return early in the third quarter that tied the score at 7.

Taylor raised his right arm in what seemed like a signal for a fair catch, then ran with the ball after catching the punt.

"We are acknowledging that an error was made and [Big East commissioner] Mike Tranghese deemed it serious enough to warrant action," Big East spokesman John Paquette said. "We do not make [the action] public."

Edsall would not comment directly on Taylor raising his arm before the catch during a conference call Sunday afternoon.

"I've watched the film and I thought Larry did a nice job of catching the ball and I thought he did a great job of taking the ball down the sideline and playing until the whistle blows," Edsall said. "Other than that, I really have no other comment on it."

******And then a gem by the kid and the reporter...after I'm sure what was exhaustive research.....

Taylor said after the game that he did not call for a fair catch and it seemed, by the letter of the NCAA rule book, that he didn't. The rule book defines a fair catch motion as being "a signal given by a player who has obviously signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving that hand from side to side of his body more than once."

Pressed on the issue Sunday and asked if the move was coached or talked about before the play, Edsall deferred to Big East protocol on questionable calls.

"I'm not going to make any comments on any part of the officiating in any game, as we have rules and regulations in the Big East," Edsall said.

[hawk65]

I saw this play only once - no replays. First impression was that receiver did not wave his arm side to side but he definitely put his arm up and made one sweeping wave. Wouldn't this qualify as an invalid signal under NFHS rules for high school? Does NCAA have an invalid signal rule?

[TXMike]

Yes there is an NCAA invalid signal rule and as the article makes clear, the Conference believes it was mistakenly not applied in this case