ESPN analyst Jim Donnan's in-game comment sums up the Fiesta Bowl: "It is really amazing that the national championship came down to five different fourth-down plays, the final one resulting in a win for OSU and a loss for Miami."
Well OSU got hosed on their last offensive play of regulation when the receiver obviously got held but there was no call so it all evens out at the end.
posted by gyc at 11:18 AM on January 05, 2003
grum, I had exactly that same experience -- up to and including "hoping" that Miami would win so there would be no controversy. But gyc makes a good point, too. Great game! And then Sunday's playoff games were great, too. What a weekend.
posted by jmpeterson at 09:31 AM on January 06, 2003
I'm not a fan of either team, and here is my reaction to the "pass-interference" call. [watching play live] Interference! You gotta call interference on that! He was all over him! [watching first replay, same angle] Yup, that's interference. Good call ref. [watching replay from end zone angle] Whoa. That's not interference. He didn't hold him or push him. [watching replay in slow motion from end zone angle] Miami just got hosed. I hope they win now so there is not a controversy. So in conclusion, I think the refs made the wrong call, but made the obvious call based on seeing it in real-time speed only once. Therefore, no real controversy.
posted by grum@work at 08:30 AM on January 05, 2003