It all depends on your point of view.
(More on that later.)
I estimate I called over 800 games during my 38 years of officiating high school football. I still run the game clock and occasionally assist with replays. I have lost track of the number of times I have been asked over the past few days what I thought about the final call of the Fiesta Bowl.
A little background is helpful here. I am a Mississippi State graduate. For the 18 years before I enrolled at State, I was a huge Ole Miss fan. And, even today, many of my best friends and referee buddies are Ole Miss grads.
As a Bulldog fan now, I know how it feels. One only needs to go back to the 1981 Egg Bowl, when the games were still played at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Jackson. With just over one minute left in the game and MSU leading 17-14, Ole Miss got the ball back deep in their own territory. John Fourcade was quarterback and knew how to sling it around the yard.
A couple of plays later, with time ticking down for one last play, Fourcade launched a 40-yard pass to the endzone, which the State defender intercepted. Celebrations erupted for MSU. But then, a yellow flag was hurled to the ground and pass interference was called on the State safety. By rule at that time, the ball was placed at the 3-yard line. Steve Sloan, the Ole Miss coach, elected to go for the win rather than kick a field goal and tie the game.
The official’s name that threw the flag was Dick Pace. Back then, the officials stayed at the old Sun-N-Sand downtown. Two vans carrying the officials headed back downtown with a police escort. Riding in the van were a couple of officiating friends who were on the chain crew for the game. They told me later Dick Pace kept saying---“I missed the call…I missed the call.”
And Dick Pace did. Just Google “Egg Bowl 1981” and see for yourself. YouTube proves it!
Forty five years later, and I haven’t forgotten! State was “robbed.”
Now, on to the current controversy.
When I began calling high school football in 1979, we only had four on-field officials. This generally was not a problem for us to provide good coverage, since most teams did not throw the football nearly as much as they do now.
I later became a back judge, with the responsibility to cover receivers running deep passing routes with assistance from a line judge and field judge running down to help with the sideline coverage.
Today, college football officials have the luxury of EIGHT sets of “eyes.” It makes a big difference to help concentrate on specific zones and areas of responsibility and to watch for fouls.
In the case of the Fiesta Bowl, the closest official was the side judge. However, it appears to me that he was looking at the back of the players and did not have a clear shot of the jersey and shoulder pad grabbing. The back judge in the middle of the field most likely had the best angle, but he may have been looking at another battle in his zone between a receiver and defender.
Add to that the tendency some officials have to “swallow the whistle” in making a critical decision.
I don’t know what the official’s name is, but I can assure you he will live with this call the rest of his life.
So now, the tough question for me to answer…given the fact that I am a State fan…is “what would you have called?”
It’s all about point of view. If I was the back judge, I would have called interference. I should have had a better angle. If I was the side judge, I would have looked to the back judge for help and would have “eaten my whistle” and called nothing if he didn’t instantly help me out.
I’ve never forgotten or forgiven Dick Pace. Rebel fans will never forget this call, either.
Hotty Toddy and Hail State……
Kendall Smith is a Northsider.
