I guess the problem I have with the whole thing is this: while the first one was undoubtedly and the second one was possibly, that's NOT why we lost the game, folks. I'm always sickened by this mentality, and it's not just Alabama fans - it seems to be universal across sports. Fans can always tell you the 1-2 or even up to 5 plays an official makes a mistake in the game.
I've never understood why fans give more weight to ONE mistake by an official but allow DOZENS of mistakes or bad things done by players on their own team to pass by without even mentioning. We could have missed 34 tackles in that game (speaking theoretically) where only 2 would have needed to be made to win the game....and fans will blame the referees for their team losing every single time. I guess it makes people feel good to somehow have an excuse - "well, we didn't lose but the refs hosed us."
It's about like the folks who to this day blame Scott Norwood for Buffalo losing Super Bowl XXV. His name will forever be known as 'the guy who kicked wide right.' Never mind that the Giants held the ball for nearly 41 minutes. Never mind that Mark Ingram Sr kept a drive going in the third quarter by converting a third and 13 with an incredible effort. Never mind that Andre Reed dropped seven passes because he was afraid to get hammered by the Giants secondary. No, it's a whole lot easier to blame one guy - "well, if they just had a better kicker..." It's the same thing with the whole pick play thing.
In the end, Clemson beat us fair and square and there's literally nothing to do but tip your hat to them. Yeah, we had some shortcomings but those shortcomings were there all season. Clemson took advantage of them where teams like LSU, Washington, and Florida did not.
And that's all I have to say about that.
I've never understood why fans give more weight to ONE mistake by an official but allow DOZENS of mistakes or bad things done by players on their own team to pass by without even mentioning. We could have missed 34 tackles in that game (speaking theoretically) where only 2 would have needed to be made to win the game....and fans will blame the referees for their team losing every single time. I guess it makes people feel good to somehow have an excuse - "well, we didn't lose but the refs hosed us."
It's about like the folks who to this day blame Scott Norwood for Buffalo losing Super Bowl XXV. His name will forever be known as 'the guy who kicked wide right.' Never mind that the Giants held the ball for nearly 41 minutes. Never mind that Mark Ingram Sr kept a drive going in the third quarter by converting a third and 13 with an incredible effort. Never mind that Andre Reed dropped seven passes because he was afraid to get hammered by the Giants secondary. No, it's a whole lot easier to blame one guy - "well, if they just had a better kicker..." It's the same thing with the whole pick play thing.
In the end, Clemson beat us fair and square and there's literally nothing to do but tip your hat to them. Yeah, we had some shortcomings but those shortcomings were there all season. Clemson took advantage of them where teams like LSU, Washington, and Florida did not.
And that's all I have to say about that.