ernest_t_bass;582104 wrote:Does this situation really warrant a right or wrong? I'm OK with being wrong, just as much as I'm OK with being right. I simply don't care either way, b/c it was a judgement call, and it did not affect the outcome of the game.
I thought he had ahold of his jersey. I did not watch this play as much as you did. But that is what I (we) thought we saw and agreed with.
No, it doesn't necessarily warrant a right or wrong outcome, but you keep saying that you thought it was holding but never explained why or where the holding was. When I watch the play he has his hands on the defenders chest in between his armpits the entire time until he spins him and pushes him down from the side. No one EVER gets called for holding if their hands on on the chest in between the armpits. That's simply acceptable. The only time anyone get's called for holding is if the jersey is pulled out of place or if an arm is extended with a hand gripping the jersey. That never happened during this play. Also, receivers are using given a bit more leeway in terms of holding when blocking down field than offensive linemen are because they are used to blocking regularly, whereas receivers are not, and I don't even think that a linemen would have been called for holding.
The ref who threw the flag was running down the sideline and he appears to be watching Herron run to the endzone and not the block. He is also completely blocked by Sanzenbach so I'm unsure how he could have seen him holding the Michigan player anyway (which is also likely why he missed the Michigan player molesting Sanz's facemask). By the time the ref reaches for his flag Sanzenbacher nearly has the Michigan defender on the ground, and where the threw the flag (where the penalty supposedly occurred) Sanzenbacher was already beginning to drive him to the turn. I don't think it's physically possible to hold someone and push them down at the same time.
It looks to me like one of those situations where a center in basketball get's a foul called on him because the ref just assumes that their had to be a foul. It looked like the ref threw the flag because he thought that there had to be holding for a receiver to block down field that well.