Ok, this is my last post last Saturday’s most controversial play. As well all know by now, Stanford fans and beat writters and head coach Jim Harbaugh are convinced that not only did they receive an unfair penalty on the interference call at the end of the first half, but also that they should have been awarded possession of the ball because Armando Allen touched the ball. The only problem with their contentions is that their player touched the ball, not Allen, and the penalty was warranted.
When asked about the play on Tuesday, Charlie Weis echoed what I have been posting since Saturday night when I first heard Harbaugh complaining about the “bad call.”
Q. And did the Pac-10 comment on the muffed punt or did they address that?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: From what I understand, all they said was they got it right. From going back and watching it, there are two issues. And, look it, I’m not going to get into a he said/she said on this game because that game is gone. But, number one, the guy clearly interfered with Armando having an opportunity to catch the ball. And, number two, the ball didn’t hit Armando, the ball hit the other guy. That’s clearly interference if the ball hits the other guy.
So all I can tell you is from what I read and they read that the call was right.Q. And you can’t return a muffed punt; is that correct?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: No.Q. So it would have been down there regardless of whose ball it was?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Right. But it was our ball and they had the call right.
Stanford fans are still convinced they got robbed on this call though even after the Pac 10 reprimanded Jim Harbaugh for criticizing the officials and said in the same statement that the call on the field was accurate. I’m actually a little surprised at just how sure Stanford fans are that they got screwed on this call.
Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Weis say exactly what I have been saying on this subject for the last few days and figured one more post on the matter couldn’t hurt. I promise no more posts on this now (well… maybe I will post some still shots of the play showing the ball hit off of Stanford’s player if the Stanford sites and papers keep saying they got robbed on the call).
Have Stanford fans forgotten how David Grimes was screwed out of a touchdown last year?
In Harbaugh’s case, ignorance is dangerous, but stupid is forever.
As for the Standford fans, they are just mirroring their coach’s firebrand approach.
If they can’t accept the offical final ruling then go
play hopscotch instead of football.