Can't Say It Any Better

If you haven’t read the OSR report here is an article that sums up the Iowa game better than I can.
Official Sports Report: November 01, 2009A Truly Uphill Battleby Jeremy GrayIOWA CITY, Iowa- This will possibly get me in trouble with my national editor, but I don’t know any other way to write this column. I have never done this before, and likely I will never do it again. This line of argument is almost always facile and simplistic. Only rarely does it come off as anything other than whiny and small.
However, to make anything else the focus of this column would be inexcusable. It should be said. In my time of watching football, Indiana’s 42-24 loss to Iowa was one of the most grotesquely officiated football games I have ever seen.
It wasn’t one bad call. It wasn’t two bad calls. There were a slew of them and they were not bifurcated evenly between the two teams. And unlike with modern medicine and av! iation, technology didn’t seem to help.
Before I rehash my grievances, let me state and acknowledge the following…
Iowa deserves credit for taking advantage of their opportunities. The Hawkeyes also battled through a litany of injuries to pull out the win and that deserves praise and recognition. The Hoosiers failed to stop misdirection plays throughout the game, and didn’t respond when they began taking on water in the 4th quarter. The Hoosiers also failed to capitalize on all of their turnovers.
But…
It’s a little tough for an underdog to win a game against a top five team on the road when officials unjustifiably took away two touchdowns, made a phantom pass interference call, made woeful spots after IU offensive gains, and made a questionable unnecessary roughness call on Donnell Jones that prolonged an Iowa drive.
And what did Terrance Turner do to undermine his football karma! ? Did he forget to send his grandmother a birthday card? He makes two brilliant touchdown catches and both of them got wiped off the board.
To their credit, Indiana responded exceptionally well to most of these setbacks.
The bad pass interference call against Adrian Burks in the first half was made irrelevant by a Collin Taylor interception later in the drive.
Turner’s first touchdown catch that was rendered an incomplete pass, was quickly made up for by a fabulous touchdown connection between Ben Chappell and Damarlo Belcher.
The Hoosiers also overcame a bad spot in the first half. Running back Darius Willis clearly plunged over the first down marker, but the officials spotted it a full yard behind the marker. They reviewed the spot, and unfathomably upheld the ruling on the field. On 4th and 1, Ben Chappell was able to get the Hawkeyes to jump offside on a hard count and the Hoosiers sustained the drive.
But the other bad spot cost Indiana dearly. In the first hal! f, Damarlo Belcher made a catch and touched the ground with his hand before plunging ahead for a significant gain. The officials spotted the ball where his hand touched the ground, rather than where he actually went down. The Hoosiers were forced to punt. It should be noted that this occurred at a juncture of the game that the Hoosiers were moving the ball fairly easily and the defense was overwhelming the Hawkeyes.
But the real whopper took place in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Indiana led the game 21-14. The offense was in a groove, and Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi looked like Gerry Cooney after taking his first shot from Mike Tyson. The Hoosiers were responding to the most inexplicable only-against-the Chicago Cubs-like interception return in history. They methodically drove down field and were on the verge of levying a devastating blow to the Hawkeyes. The Hoosiers were near the goal line and Chappell unfurled a perfect strike to a darting Ter! rance Turner. Turner hauled it in, drug his back foot two feet inside the endzone, and slid toward the Iowa cheerleaders in exaltation.
The official, standing a scant three feet away and possessing a perfect view of the play, raised his hands to signal the touchdown. The players went bananas, I scared my dog, and the Hoosiers were up 28-14.
But…
The officials decided to review the catch. The ESPN crew replayed the catch over and over again. Iowa fans, Indiana fans, Bob Davie, Lou Holtz, Mark May, Barack Obama, John McCain, Kanye West, my shaken golden retriever, Lady Gaga, and Boilermaker Pete could all see that it was a touchdown.
But after several minutes of deliberation, the officials wiped off the points and deemed it an incomplete pass. Nick Freeland missed the subsequent field goal attempt, and the Hawkeyes were still within striking distance.
The toughest part of that scenario to wrap my mind around&#44! ; was the fact that the play was deemed a touchdown on the field. To overturn, there has to be conclusive evidence. If it was conclusive, why did it take so long to review it? Not even Hawkeye partisans Chuck Long and Tom Brokaw could convince themselves that there was conclusive evidence.
The Hoosiers responded again with another interception. They drove down the field and booted a field goal. But the Hawkeyes were given new life and the rest, unfortunately, is history.
Certainly Iowa’s track record suggests that they could have mounted a comeback no matter what the score was.
And just as certainly, the Hoosiers have struggled to hold onto leads in 2009.
Would the Hoosiers have won a well officiated game? I think so, but I’ll never know for sure. But I certainly would have liked to have watched that game instead.