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(24.160.6.198) on 10/14/2003 - 9:13 p.m. says: ( 5 views
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"Ceremonial Evangelical Arkansasan Penalty Protest"
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or beating a dead horse, but funny
MCCOLLUM'S COLUMN: Flags disguise the real ailments
by David McCollum
Cabin Columnist
A friend carried a knotted, yellow flag tucked inside his Bible at church Sunday.
In a pre-sermon routine outside the sanctuary, he tossed it to the floor - a creative, poignant protest, with an evangelical flavor, to a couple of officials' calls in the University of Arkansas' loss to Auburn.
The heartbreak and the search for a scapegoat among the Hog faithful are understandable.
But ... uh ... hold on.
Those "phantom" holding penalties don't seem to be the blatant acts of ineptitude as some would like to believe. Unfortunately, the calls have been used as lightning rods to overshadow the real reasons the Razorbacks lost 10-3.
On its "SportsWeek" show Sunday night, the KATV (Channel 7, Little Rock) crew showed different angles of the two holding calls with Zapruder-like, frame-by-frame tedium. They offered a different perspective, one some Hog fans don't want to see.
On Cedric Cobbs' reduced 69-yard run, George Wilson grabs Junior Rosegreen's jersey and the Auburn player is turning. Even though the interlock occurs behind Cobbs, an official, in split second, cannot assume the UA runner cannot not be caught when he sees a defender with his jersey being jerked. Reverse the scenario and if you had the same play with Auburn's "Cadillac" Williams breaking on the same run, some Razorback fans would be venting about the "hold" by the Auburn blocker.
From his video study, UA coach Houston Nutt, no doubt legitimately, claims Wilson has hold of the jersey because the Rosegreen grabbed Wilson's facemask first.
But note the No. 1 rule of tit-for-tat, which happens at least 90 percent of the time: The player who commits the second foul or throws the second punch is almost always the one who is caught.
And while you're into "woulda, coulda, shouldas," consider that Wilson should have been flagged (he really pushed the envelope) for taunting on the play before Cobbs' run.
From Channel 7's angle on Matt Jones' 78-yard touchdown run that was called back, Wilson makes a decent cutback block (although analyst Ron Calcagni notes the technique is not great). Then, Wilson's arms slide under the leg of the Auburn defender (Rosegreen again), who twists and falls. Like a pro wrestler disguising an illegal hold, Wilson seems to quickly slide his arms away from the defender and place his hands on the ground.
You can debate forever whether this was a legal block or a hold, but at least one analyst (former Razorback star Bruce James) who studied the video segment by segment called it a tackle by Wilson, noting the flag was justified.
The video indicates that what is not debatable is that the call is debatable. The official seemed to act on the cause and effect of what he thought he saw. What he actually saw in real time, we'll probably never know.
But venting incessantly about two officials' calls also creates a smokescreen for the following:
The drive that produced the second holding call actually ended with Jones' losing a fumble on the Auburn 8 because he didn't properly protect the ball. The Hogs overcame the immediate effects of the holding penalty, were driving efficiently before an enthusiastic home crowd, still had more than six minutes plus the history of a very good team in overtime situations.
The Hogs did an abysmal job of time management. They had to burn two timeouts on defense the second half, leaving them none for the final minutes. One of the defensive timeouts apparently occurred after coaches discovered a wrong personnel package on the field after an interception - a glaring tactical gaffe for the fifth game of the season.
Arkansas had the ball inside the Auburn 20 five times and got three points. The Hogs missed one short field goal and got only three points after first and goal at the 7. They mysteriously moved an All-America tackle (Shawn Andrews) to fullback for a play and couldn't make a yard on fourth down. Jones missed some open receivers. Wilson dropped a catchable ball in the end zone. Auburn's defensive front generally won the trenches.
Auburn got flat-out lucky when it happened to incur a deadball, false-start penalty right before a bobbled snap on a punt from its end zone. And it committed a heady pass-interference infraction in the end zone the play before Jones lost his fumble.
But the Hogs probably lost this game because they were stabbed by the double-edged sword, an open week.
An open playing date, wonderful for healing, usually interrupts the offensive rhythm of a team that is playing well. It can take a lot of the emotional zing out of an overtime victory like the Hogs enjoyed against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
The Hog offense was not sharp Saturday. It was out of sync, missing on several cylinders. Nutt conceded the UA offense, particularly in the first half, had trouble re-adapting itself to the speed of the game.
The officials' calls certainly stung. They were excruciating flesh wounds reflecting a bad day. But the real ailments went deeper.
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