the interception that wasn't- discuss

[trenda]

For clarification from Article 7 of the ncaa football rules book:
Article 7. A catch is an act of firmly establishing player possession of a live ball in flight.
c. To catch, intercept or recover a ball, a player who leaves his feet to make a catch, interception or recovery must have the ball firmly in his possession when he first returns to the ground inbounds with any part of his body or is so heltd that the dead ball provisions of Rule 4-1-3-p apply.

You just defeated your own argument. When Reid hits the ground he does not "firmly" have the ball in his "possession." No one in their right mind can claim Reid firmly had possession of the ball when he hit the ground.

Also, you see the ball move slightly while Williams CLEARLY has both hands on the ball. This is due to Reid's "one" hand jockeying the ball; but he doesn't dislodge it from Williams' grasp until after Williams has landed on his back. Just my opinion from watching it over and over and over.

The rule as you state it, though, prove that it wasn't an interception. Reid did not have the ball firmly in his possession when he hit the ground. He took it from Williams after they had both hit the ground.

 

[bamacpa]

The only design flaw was having Gibson bring his man into the play. Everything else was great. Not sure why you'd run a route into an area you want vacated.

It was GREAT play call. Williams was open, but the ball floated just a tad too long. Williams has to beat their guy for the ball there.

 

[cmmiller711]

It was the correct call . Williams never had total control of the ball on his way down so there was no way it was going to be overturned . Let's not play the sore loser card :...

he's right. the ball started to move before williams hit the ground... and the ball never hit the ground.... so it's a live ball until someone comes out with it.

it was the right call.

 

[TideFan in AU]

he's right. the ball started to move before williams hit the ground... and the ball never hit the ground.... so it's a live ball until someone comes out with it.

it was the right call.

Agreed! I HATE it, but it was the right call. The ball clearly rotated before his butt hit the ground. If Williams could have pulled the ball to his body and secured (even while his back was on the ground) it would have been a catch.

 

[Tider4653golf]

http://youtu.be/EEpFMr5X_Wo

Looks like a catch to me! Only question I have is why was Gibson's route that close to Williams???

 

[skippgriffin]

Let's be truly honest. Inconclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field. Had it been called a complete pass to Bama, they still would not have overturned the play. It was too close either way.

 

[cbi1972]

Let's be truly honest. Inconclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field. Had it been called a complete pass to Bama, they still would not have overturned the play. It was too close either way.

Except they said the call was confirmed, not that it stood.
They were just as sure they were right as we were they were wrong.

 

[bama_fan01]

He was down with control with the ball. Then the guy takes it. I don't understand it at all.

I disagree - as much as I would have liked for the call to be overturned, I don't think our guy had control of the ball. I saw an angle on the news this morning I didn't see last night, and you could see the 2 players fighting for the ball all the way to the ground. It clearly showed the LSU defender pulling the ball away just before hitting the ground. As much as I hate to say it, I think the officials got it right. Regardless of my opinion, I will NOT whine and cry about it - that's what barners do, and Bama fans are above that. RTR!

 

[gamersfuel]

looked to be the right call. Williams was bobbling the ball as he hit the ground. He has to have possession which he didnt. you cant call it incomplete of course because a player came down with the ball. you cant call it a completion for williams because he never had control when he touched the ground. it's a tough call but they got it right

 

[bamanut_aj]

Lou holtz thought it was a catch and was our ball FWIW...

yeah, but it's rumored he once tried to change the channel on the fish aquarium. So.......

 

[BamaBuc]

There are as many diverse answers to this play, on this board as there are within the media.

One thing I will not do, is sit at a keyboard and question the coaches and players, (I also thought this board had a policy about using names of player or coaches in these post)! If I had been on the sidelines or on the field that would be a different situation.

I could sit here and argue the call with any of you, and feel i was totaly right and you were wrong!

Well after a very restless night, getting ready to head back home!

RTR

 

[TUSKaloosa]

What seemed odd to me was the length of time it took for the review. I have never seen a review take so little time, like the guy did not even look at it and went with the call on he field. Definitely a game changer!

 

[Bama Greg]

I think it was a bad call but the one I thought was worse was us taking the ball 1st it OT You should always take it 2nd so you can see what the other team is going to do.

We had no choice, LSwho won the toss and chose defense, then we panic and start chunking the ball, we should have pounded the ball, threw some screens, quick outs, balls in the flat, TE over the middle, something, the offensive playcalling was atrocious, this and the special team coaching pure and simply cost us the game IMHO.

 

[Bama Greg]

that was my problem with the play design. It was also a bad call as we finally got some life in the running game and went with a gimmick play.

^^^^^what he said^^^^^

 

[Tidetwin]

I read the maze pass as an aggressive attempt to win the game. We had not been able to breach the Tiger 30 yard line the entire game and CNS couldn't trust our field goal kickers. The biggest break for LSU on the play was our left-side receiver's diagonal cut across the field that pulled his defender into a position where he could make a great play.

 

[37bamagreats55]

It was clearly an interception.
Michael Williams never had complete control of the ball through falling to the ground, and the LSU player gained control of the ball w/o it touching the ground.
It's one of those plays that could've gone either way and it may have decided the national championship. Unfortunately, our guy couldn't hold onto what would've been one amazing catch.

 

[Tide Warrior]

I have no issue with the play because we needed to air it out more.

Regarding the play it could go either way and as a UA fan I wish it was a comleted pass, but probably no different in the way LSU fans saw the Peterson interception that was called not because they said he went out of bounds before he had control in 08.

We gambled and it did not payoff but for me I wish we would have gambled more in thegame besides right there.