Last Weeks' Bama/Ole Miss Game

[ShoelessJoe]

So I don't know how many people caught this game outside of the Southeast because I know it was shown locally here on Lincoln Financial Sports which I don't think many people get. Here's a breakdown of what happened basically...

Ole Miss is down 24-27 with about 2 mins to go on about their own 10. They drive to about the 50 with 17 secs left and basically throw up a prayer to a WR, Shay Hodge, double covered. The on the field ruling was that he made the catch (it was one heckuva catch, watch it on the YouTube video posted further down). However, Nick Saban challenged the call and it was overturned. The official ruling by the on-the-field official was that the player went out of bounds on his own and was the first person to catch the ball and that if you go out of bounds willingly you are not allowed to be the first person to catch the ball. (He said that when explaining his ruling) I actually called Bagel when this happened and we both agreed that we thought the offical rule was that it only mattered who the first person who touches the ball was.

From the video, IMO, it looks like the DB was the first person to touch the ball, not Hodge. However, the SEC (which backs officials 99 times out of 100) backed the officials and said they made the correct call. In all honesty, I think this borders on the same kind of flub up of the Oregon/Oklahoma game a few years back. If this would have been ruled a catch they would have had the ball on the 10 with 10 secs left down 3. Easily enough to attempt to win the game once and go for the FG if that failed (unless they had a certain Cal QB under center ).

So here's the article about the SEC upholding the call... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3065368

And here's the YouTube video of the catch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7rc5XCkxEA

After this happened the Rebel fans showered the field, and Alabama players, with debris. Nick Saban denounced this calling Ole Miss fans "classless". However, I find it very ironic because if anybody saw Georgia beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa a few weeks back I remember seeing the Bulldogs having a dogpile (pardon the pun) in the end zone and the 'Bama fans just annihilating the players with even more debris than the Ole Miss fans threw. Just another reason not to like Nick Saban.

[Metroid]

Wow I see what you're saying, thats BS man clearly the DB touched the ball first which negates the being applied to the WR. In fact it appears that the DB went out of bounds on his own and was the first person to touch the ball, the penalty should have been applied to the Alabama player. Thats too bad.

[VHawk15]

If the DB touched the ball first, then you are correct. However, the SEC ruled that, in fact, the WR touched the ball first. Also, a tie goes to the offensive player in this case. Here's a nice picture: