OK, I hadn't read this until today:

http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_7230897

Quote:"I thought that was a fair play out there," said Taylor, a broad smile on his face.

Taylor said he specifically asked the officials what constituted a fair catch signal.

"I talked to the official right before that play," Taylor said. "The official told me I had to get my hand high up in the air so he could see it."

Now, before you get your panties in a wad, nobody's saying anything negative about the University of Connecticut or their football team. But I have no qualms about saying something negative about Larry Taylor. He intentionally misled Louisville's punt coverage team by skirting a rule that was put in place to protect players in his position. How anybody could actually defend him is beyond me.

He'd better plan on playing the rest of the season with his head on a swivel and prepared to get the living daylights beaten out of him anyway. I'm not saying it will happen, but I won't be surprised if he gets cold cocked on a punt return somewhere along the way. I've heard football fans in general talking about this and saying that they expect payback to be coming.

USFFan

Totally agree USFfan. I won't go so far as to wish injury on a player, but I hope to see Taylor get absolutely drilled against USF this week. If he happens to get his slammed to the turf after a hand waive, just to make sure he doesn't pull that bush league crap again, I'll get a hearty laugh out of it. I'll be personally rooting for the guy to never see the light of day when it comes to football success ever again. You could call it a "root for whoever's playing against Taylor" policy.

As for UConn, I'll be taking a good interest in how they perform against what I perceive as the top of the league later this season, starting this week. They have a chance to prove me wrong that they are more than just an above average team. That's what I still see them as. I can't give them more credit than that at this juncture after the inability of Kragcooper to use the talent at his disposal.

From the UofL Scout board

Taylor's trashy move was certainly not the only reason UofL lost, but he showed he lacks integrity and I hope to see him fail the rest of the season following his post-game comments.

Wow. It is difficult to believe that he actually intended to do that play. Has Connecticut lowered their admission standards or something? He is setting himself up to get his block knocked off somewhere down the road.

If other players think that all that matters is that you score and how you do it doesn't matter maybe Edsal should make an example of Taylor and punish him in some way. Sportsmanship? Maybe make him read the football rule book and then give him a quiz after words.

LaRue777 Wrote:If other players think that all that matters is that you score and how you do it doesn't matter maybe Edsal should make an example of Taylor and punish him in some way.

Make an example of him?

Edsall gave a frickin game ball to Taylor for his Special Teams play.



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October 22, 2007

Football: Sunday Leftovers – Game Balls For Larry Taylor, Andre Dixon And Scott Lutrus (And Much More)

Some bits left over from Sunday’s conference call with UConn coach Randy Edsall.

Edsall gave game balls to Larry Taylor (special teams), Andre Dixon (offense) and Scott Lutrus (defense) after Friday's 21-17 victory over Louisville at Rentschler Field.

Taylor returned a punt 74-yards for a touchdown, Dixon has 115 yards on 22 carries - including the game-winning 5-yard touchdown run with under 2 minutes remaining - and Lutrus had a career high 18 tackles and an interception.

During the call Edsall was asked if there was any worry about Taylor taking unexpected hits in the coming games after seemingly calling for a fair catch prior to his punt return touchdown early in the second half, which tied the score at 7.

“All I know is that Larry will go out there and give his best effort and play until the whistle blows,” Edsall said. “All we can do, all Larry can do, is control what he does. He can’t control what anybody else does.”
http://blogs.courant.com/sports_uconn/20...unday.html

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Edsall never acknowledged anything was wrong with that play; he fully supports it. Calhoun, as many BE fans said while we were joining the league, really is an @sshat as I now see, but I was really wanting to like UConn football.

....how can you have any respect for Edsall now?

I'm not sure why Edsall would be taking this approach. He should be saying that they caught a break on a BAD officiating call but it probably didn't determine the outcome of the game. I also can't imagine any coach supporting a player taking off after making a fair catch signal. Whether you hear a whistle or not (I would imagine players can miss hearing the whistle) you should be schooled to stay put after giving the signal.

Defending the play is the wrong approach.

LaRue777 Wrote:I'm not sure why Edsall would be taking this approach. He should be saying that they caught a break on a BAD officiating call but it probably didn't determine the outcome of the game. I also can't imagine any coach supporting a player taking off after making a fair catch signal. Whether you hear a whistle or not (I would imagine players can miss hearing the whistle) you should be schooled to stay put after giving the signal.

Defending the play is the wrong approach.

It almost sounds as if the fake fair catch was a play that was scripted and practiced by the Uconn players.

Playing the devils advocate here, was the fake fair catch signal any different than a fake field goal? Or trying to draw a defense off side? Maybe the refs did see it and did not call it seeing it as a play in the same light as a fake field goal and then realized later that it should have been called. Who knows?

cuseroc Wrote:It almost sounds as if the fake fair catch was a play that was scripted and practiced by the Uconn players.

Playing the devils advocate here, was the fake fair catch signal any different than a fake field goal? Or trying to draw a defense off side? Maybe the refs did see it and did not call it seeing it as a play in the same light as a fake field goal and then realized later that it should have been called. Who knows?

It could have been practiced, we just don't know at this point.

I just don't see how it can be compared to trying to draw someone offsides or a fake field goal, because there is nothing wrong with those plays. This play was flatly 100% illegal.

From a C-J Sports blog:
The basics of this play. NCAA rules state that a valid fair catch signal is for a player to wave his hand above his head more than once. Taylor clearly just waved his hand once. In other words, he made an invalid fair catch signal.

But get this -- NCAA rules state that even if a player makes an invalid signal, he still cannot advance the ball once he catches it.

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/crawford/blog.html

cuseroc Wrote:It almost sounds as if the fake fair catch was a play that was scripted and practiced by the Uconn players.

Playing the devils advocate here, was the fake fair catch signal any different than a fake field goal? Or trying to draw a defense off side? Maybe the refs did see it and did not call it seeing it as a play in the same light as a fake field goal and then realized later that it should have been called. Who knows?

IF this was a coached play then we really have a problem. A coach that practices a fake fair catch signal would be putting his and other players in danger.

The difference is that if teams need to worry about fake signals a player is going to have his block knocked off somewhere down the road.

For the record, I don't agree with the play at all as most UCONN fans. We are not defending the play and it should have been called a fair catch as that punt return fumble should have been UCONN ball at UL 1. However, Card fans need to direct their anger at the refs that screwed it up. Blaming an UCONN player is totally out of the line. The kid went out there and did whatever he did to play the game. The refs should have called a fair catch and blew the whistle. They did not and football players and trained to keep playing until the whistle blows.

Are all fans now expecting all football players to police themselves on the field? If they did something illegal, are they suppose to raise their hands and stop play? Are they suppose to tell refs they screw up? If that's the case, then every single play on the field can be called a penalty cause there are always some illegal stuff going on on the field whether the refs see it or not. By bashing the UCONN player, that's what everyone is saying basically.

SF Husky Wrote:Are all fans now expecting all football players to police themselves on the field? If they did something illegal, are they suppose to raise their hands and stop play? Are they suppose to tell refs they screw up? If that's the case, then every single play on the field can be called a penalty cause there are always some illegal stuff going on on the field whether the refs see it or not. By bashing the UCONN player, that's what everyone is saying basically.

The key is intent, and Taylor obviously had the intent to deceive. As I said, short of injury I wish him failure for the rest of his college career. It's that simple.

SF Husky Wrote:For the record, I don't agree with the play at all as most UCONN fans. We are not defending the play and it should have been called a fair catch as that punt return fumble should have been UCONN ball at UL 1. However, Card fans need to direct their anger at the refs that screwed it up. Blaming an UCONN player is totally out of the line. The kid went out there and did whatever he did to play the game. The refs should have called a fair catch and blew the whistle. They did not and football players and trained to keep playing until the whistle blows.

Are all fans now expecting all football players to police themselves on the field? If they did something illegal, are they suppose to raise their hands and stop play? Are they suppose to tell refs they screw up? If that's the case, then every single play on the field can be called a penalty cause there are always some illegal stuff going on on the field whether the refs see it or not. By bashing the UCONN player, that's what everyone is saying basically.

I think now it has to do more with how Taylor and Edsall have acted since.



Pop Quiz Time

What is this player doing?



A. Swatting a fly away
B. Waving to Mom in the stands
C. Signaling for a fair catch

CardHouse Wrote:Pop Quiz Time

What is this player doing?

A. Swatting a fly away
B. Waving to Mom in the stands
C. Signaling for a fair catch

D. Covering his eyes from that glaring sunlight
E. Dispersing the smoke from his doobie
F. A new dance craze
G. Signaling that he's ready for the play to begin
H. Suffering an obscure arm and shoulder cramp

I realize now my question might be a little tricky, so I'm going to offer a clue:

UConn was the ONE northern team that I cheered for. Now that has changed. With the actions of one cheating player, the coach who defends cheating, and a fan that says it is wrong to blame a kid who tries to cheat to win, I have withdrawn from the UConn support group. May you lose the rest of your BEast games, even to Cuse, and win your out of conference games by last second field goals (thus causing great axiety to all) in sub zero freezing rain temperatures.

Should we outlaw fake FG and punts too? Cause both of those are deceptions. If we gonna outlaw deceptions, we might as well outlaw things like misdirection or reverse. Deception is part of the FB game as long as it is within the game. I did not see Taylor did anything totally out the line.

The ref missed the call. Blame the damn ref.

Here is the difference. Fake field goals and punts are part of a play. The fair catch is to protect a player. When the hand goes up the other teams understands they are not to hit the opposing player. On a fake field goal or punt you are still trying to hit someone. I tell you what, let's do away with the fair catch. How many catastrophic injuries do you think we will see? That is why they are different.

SF Husky Wrote:Should we outlaw fake FG and punts too? Cause both of those are deceptions. If we gonna outlaw deceptions, we might as well outlaw things like misdirection or reverse. Deception is part of the FB game as long as it is within the game. I did not see Taylor did anything totally out the line.

The ref missed the call. Blame the damn ref.

There are no special rules in place designed to protect a punter or kicker on those plays. It's kind of like waving a white towel (the universal sign of surrender), shooting the opposition and then saying "it was a towel, not a flag!" OK, nobody got shot, but it's the closest analogy I could think of. It's incredibly sleazy, where it relies on the decency of the other side and then uses their decency against them.

It probably would die IF YOU WEREN'T CONSTANTLY TRYING TO DEFEND THE PLAYER! Seriously, you're the only person on here who seems to be willing to blame anybody else ("Louisville needs to play until they hear the whistle" - "blame the damn ref") rather than just admit that it was a sleazy play that might just get him injured somewhere down the line. You think Louisville's players haven't been talking to high school teammates on USF, for example?

How about we put this another way. Suppose this play had transpired exactly as it did, but the Louisville kid pummeled Taylor the second he caught it, and a second Louisville player grabbed the ball and ran it in for a score. You don't think Edsall would have been screaming that the kid called for a fair catch? You don't think every Husky fan wouldn't have been calling the game tainted?

Seriously, man, it's OK to admit that it was a dirty play. Nobody thinks YOU did it, they think Taylor did. And trust me, karma's a *****.

USFFan

army56mike Wrote:and win your out of conference games by last second field goals (thus causing great axiety to all) in sub zero freezing rain temperatures.

I like snow better