Although a good win for the conference, I'm not much of a WMU fan with Fleck there. I guess it is his constant rah-rah and RTB gimmicks that make me cringe. At least he knows people will either love him or hate him, that there is not much in-between room. He's probably right.

Anyway, Western gets a win on a pretty bad call coupled with one of the dumbest rules in college football.

Guy gets tackled at around the 2 yard line, fumbles the ball and it starts bouncing toward the sideline of the end zone. A not very bright Western player runs over, jumps in the air and bats the ball back into the end zone - without touching any out of bounds turf before he hits it back. The refs rule he stepped on the sideline and was therefore out of bounds before he batted it back, therefore the ball is ruled out of bounds. The dumb rule is that if you fumble through the end zone (sideline included) it is a touchback and the defense gets the ball. This all happened with less than 3 minutes to play and Western up by a single point.

Western gets the ball, gets one first down and runs out the clock for the win. Northwestern did not look very good on offense, but Western looked good on defense and QB Terrell played well at crucial points of the game.

...and BG looked stellar against OSU....LMAO

On that weird play, WMU got a little lucky, but it wouldn't have been a touchdown. There was a Northwestern holding call on the play. If there had been no hold, and they ruled that the WMU guy didn't touch the ground first, then I believe it would have been an illegal forward pass / forward lateral, and as the ball hit the ground there would be no recovery to be made (incomplete pass, right?). Could have resulted in a safety though, if I remember my rules correctly. So even then, the holding call saved the safety at worst (WMU gets the ball back down 1 with time left). Overturning the call would have given NW the ball with 15 yards to the goal (I forget the down) and a shot at kicking a field goal if they don't punch it in.

(09-03-2016 03:55 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Although a good win for the conference, I'm not much of a WMU fan with Fleck there. I guess it is his constant rah-rah and RTB gimmicks that make me cringe. At least he knows people will either love him or hate him, that there is not much in-between room. He's probably right.

Anyway, Western gets a win on a pretty bad call coupled with one of the dumbest rules in college football.

Guy gets tackled at around the 2 yard line, fumbles the ball and it starts bouncing toward the sideline of the end zone. A not very bright Western player runs over, jumps in the air and bats the ball back into the end zone - without touching any out of bounds turf before he hits it back. The refs rule he stepped on the sideline and was therefore out of bounds before he batted it back, therefore the ball is ruled out of bounds. The dumb rule is that if you fumble through the end zone (sideline included) it is a touchback and the defense gets the ball. This all happened with less than 3 minutes to play and Western up by a single point.

Western gets the ball, gets one first down and runs out the clock for the win. Northwestern did not look very good on offense, but Western looked good on defense and QB Terrell played well at crucial points of the game.

...and BG looked stellar against OSU....LMAO

We fumbled out of end zone last night. Lost to Miami when tight end John ?(help me someone) fumbled a sure TD reception out several years ago. First time I had ever heard of the rule.

It's a terrible rule if you are on offense and fumble, but it's a great rule if you are on defense and make a great play to force the fumble.

Always been that way. Not any different really than a punt or a kickoff that goes out of the endzone. If it isn't a touchback, where do you put the ball?

(09-03-2016 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  We fumbled out of end zone last night. Lost to Miami when tight end John ?(help me someone) fumbled a sure TD reception out several years ago. First time I had ever heard of the rule.

Danny Noble as I recall Maybe John was just a nickname

That might have been the only game Miami won all year----they were really terrible that year, but on that night the Rockets were even worse.

(09-03-2016 06:52 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  We fumbled out of end zone last night. Lost to Miami when tight end John ?(help me someone) fumbled a sure TD reception out several years ago. First time I had ever heard of the rule.

Danny Noble as I recall Maybe John was just a nickname

That might have been the only game Miami won all year----they were really terrible that year, but on that night the Rockets were even worse.

Thought it was tall, skinny TEwho played more like a wideout, John something. Not sure. I can tell you exactly where I was when I heard the call on the radio, though.

(09-03-2016 07:47 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 06:52 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  We fumbled out of end zone last night. Lost to Miami when tight end John ?(help me someone) fumbled a sure TD reception out several years ago. First time I had ever heard of the rule.

Danny Noble as I recall Maybe John was just a nickname

That might have been the only game Miami won all year----they were really terrible that year, but on that night the Rockets were even worse.

Thought it was tall, skinny TEwho played more like a wideout, John something. Not sure. I can tell you exactly where I was when I heard the call on the radio, though.

This is what I believe T-Town is referencing
http://utrockets.com/news/2009/10/31/Roc...h=football

Danny Noble had the ball in question, but there was another TE - John Allen - that was tall and not bulky on the roster that season.

(09-03-2016 08:16 PM)Carolina Rocket Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 07:47 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 06:52 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(09-03-2016 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  We fumbled out of end zone last night. Lost to Miami when tight end John ?(help me someone) fumbled a sure TD reception out several years ago. First time I had ever heard of the rule.

Danny Noble as I recall Maybe John was just a nickname

That might have been the only game Miami won all year----they were really terrible that year, but on that night the Rockets were even worse.

Thought it was tall, skinny TEwho played more like a wideout, John something. Not sure. I can tell you exactly where I was when I heard the call on the radio, though.

This is what I believe T-Town is referencing
http://utrockets.com/news/2009/10/31/Roc...h=football

Danny Noble had the ball in question, but there was another TE - John Allen - that was tall and not bulky on the roster that season.

OK, Allen is the guy I was thinking of. But apparently not the culprit.

I don't like Fleck either but, I'll put aside my differences to say that any time a MAC team beats a B!G team, more power to them. Great win.

There'd have been no skin off my teeth whatsoever to see Northwestern take some oars and shove 'em up WMU's ass, but considering we have a shot to take care of business with Western on our schedule, and not Northwestern, it's not all bad. I'm mad that WMU was able to find a way to get NW on their schedule though. Must have been arranged during the Cubit years.

Yep, NW is a program I like, great coach and all but a MAC win is a MAC win.

11 straight years a MAC school has beaten a BIG 10 team!!!!

(09-04-2016 06:26 AM)eastisbest Wrote:  Yep, NW is a program I like, great coach and all but a MAC win is a MAC win.

NW barely beat Ball State(3-9) last season 24-19.

(09-03-2016 04:02 PM)Carolina Rocket Wrote:  On that weird play, WMU got a little lucky, but it wouldn't have been a touchdown. There was a Northwestern holding call on the play. If there had been no hold, and they ruled that the WMU guy didn't touch the ground first, then I believe it would have been an illegal forward pass / forward lateral, and as the ball hit the ground there would be no recovery to be made (incomplete pass, right?). Could have resulted in a safety though, if I remember my rules correctly. So even then, the holding call saved the safety at worst (WMU gets the ball back down 1 with time left). Overturning the call would have given NW the ball with 15 yards to the goal (I forget the down) and a shot at kicking a field goal if they don't punch it in.

Fumble play

I don't recall a holding call but the boundary referee making the call that with WMU player touched down out of bounds before throwing the live ball into the end zone did throw a yellow flag. I don't understand what that flag was about as there was no penalty that I saw from his POV. Everything I read so far indicates that it would have been a NW touchdown IF the DB had gotten the ball completely out of his hands before touching down out of bounds.

it was an exceedingly dumb play by WMU player who treated it like a basketball sideline play and didn't know that if he just falls out of bounds with the ball he clinches the game for his team. By throwing it back into the end zone he nearly handed NW the win. There was a penalty on NW which means, worst case scenario was 2nd and goal from the 12 or something. The replay ruled his toe was on the sideline when he threw the ball back so it was a touchback at that point. There would not have been a safety called in any way. A safety applies to losing the ball out of your own end zone (or being tackled there or committing a a penalty in your end zone) once you have full possession.

WMU's oline was really impressive. They dominated the game. WMU should have won by more. They missed some early opportunities and controlled the line of scrimmage most of the game. They had the upper hand in that their run game was pretty automatic. Terrell was real sharp on his short throws, but they didn't do much downfield. Their defense was solid all around. Nothing special but solid.

(09-03-2016 04:02 PM)Carolina Rocket Wrote:  On that weird play, WMU got a little lucky, but it wouldn't have been a touchdown. There was a Northwestern holding call on the play. If there had been no hold, and they ruled that the WMU guy didn't touch the ground first, then I believe it would have been an illegal forward pass / forward lateral, and as the ball hit the ground there would be no recovery to be made (incomplete pass, right?). Could have resulted in a safety though, if I remember my rules correctly. So even then, the holding call saved the safety at worst (WMU gets the ball back down 1 with time left). Overturning the call would have given NW the ball with 15 yards to the goal (I forget the down) and a shot at kicking a field goal if they don't punch it in.

No it would not have been a touchdown, but they would have retained possession of the ball and were already well within field goal range even with a penalty on the play.

They still would have had plenty of time to get a TD. The Western defense was cooked by that point. They couldn't stop anything.

I just don't understand why it is ruled a touchback. I suppose part of that is you are fumbling forward and if it goes out of the end zone, the opposing team can't recover it. No different if it is fumbled out of bounds anywhere else in the field of play. Why not just move it back from the point it was fumbled? Why the severe punishment for a fumble near the end zone when you likely earned the yardage it took to get to the end zone area? I never understood the logic of that penalty.