Home › Football
Buffs left kicking themselves
Second-half collapse, controversial call lead to crucial loss
AMES, Iowa — Last week, Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins said he was out-coached by Missouri's Gary Pinkel. This week, Hawkins out-smarted himself in 31-28 defeat at Iowa State.
With his team comfortably ahead by three touchdowns early in the second half at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Hawkins couldn't resist the temptation from the bold little devil on his shoulder to go for it on fourth-down-and-1 from the CU 43-yard line.
STORY TOOLS
More Football
- Expect another green herd of Buffs
- CU still discussing contract extension with KOA
- Buffs say heartbreak will be motivation
Share and Enjoy [?]
Tailback Demetrius Sumler was stuffed on an off-tackle play and momentum completely changed as quickly as the shifty Midwestern wind.
The Cyclones came storming back to take a 10-point lead with 31 unanswered points. It was the largest lead given up by the Buffs in more than 25 years, according to longtime CU sports information director Dave Plati.
The Buffs finally were resuscitated late in the fourth quarter. CU cut the lead to three and got the ball back with less than a minute remaining in the game.
Quarterback Cody Hawkins led the Buffs to the Iowa State 33-yard line when the offense sprinted off the field and the field-goal team dashed in for a tying attempt from 50 yards out. Place-kicker Kevin Eberhart, who had missed earlier in the contest, made the kick, but it was nullified by officials who said the ball was snapped before it had been declared ready for play.
The delay-of-game penalty moved the ball back 5 yards, making Eberhart's second attempt a 55-yard blast. He made it, too, with the wind at his back, but officials waved it off after a brief conference during which they concluded the ball was not snapped on time after it was ruled ready for play and the clock started.
Several CU players were so angry they had to be restrained by teammates as Iowa State fans stormed the field, just like CU fans did a year earlier when the Buffs beat the Cyclones in Folsom Field.
"You really can't talk about what happened on that last play or that last series because we had plenty of opportunities to win this football game," defensive tackle George Hypolite said. "... This game shouldn't have come down to a last-second field goal."
Dan Hawkins said it was one of the two most bizarre endings he has been a part of and he said he didn't completely understand the ruling that ended the game. He said he would seek clarification from the Big 12 Conference today.
Hawkins said he believed long-snapper Justin Drescher snapped the ball appropriately for both field goals at the end. Drescher believed he had beaten the clock as well.
Colorado practices the exact situation on a weekly basis during every Friday's walkthrough for both home and away games. They did so Friday in Ames, practicing running onto the field and attempting a field goal as the clock winds down.
Referee Clete Blakeman explained the end of the game this way in quotes provided by the Iowa State sports information department.
"First of all, we determined the clock status to have one second on the clock, and once the penalty was marked off, ready for play is going to be signaled and then I'm going to start the clock," Blakeman said. "So that was done, the whistle was blown, I started the clock and Colorado did not get the snap off prior to the clock expiring. Because they only had one second."
In explaining the penalty during the game over the public address system, Blakeman said the delay of game was a dead-ball foul. Dead ball fouls against the offense do not prevent the clock from being started when the ball is set because teams could use such penalties as an unfair way to stop the clock late in close games.
But, CU may also have an argument with Blakeman's interpretation of the rule. According to Rule 3, Section 2, Article 5, Subarticle A-4 of the NCAA rulebook, there is an exception to the rule "After a delay foul by Team A while in scrimmage-kick formation."
In that case, the clock should start on the snap.
But in the end, CU fell below the .500 mark for the first time since mid-September (5-6, 3-4 Big 12). The Cyclones won on senior day, sending veterans such as quarterback Bret Meyer and wide receiver Todd Blythe off in style.
Meyer and Blythe connected on a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes that started the Cyclones' rally. CU was outscored 21-0 in the quarter, adding to a season-long trend that now has the Buffs being outscored 123-59 in the quarter.
The loss might have put a serious crimp in the Buffs' bowl hopes. It sets up a showdown in the regular-season finale with Nebraska, which will also be hoping to earn its sixth victory and become bowl-eligible.
But the Buffs understandably weren't ready to turn their attention toward the Cornhuskers so quickly Saturday after such a devastating defeat. It was the second consecutive such loss suffered here in the middle of Iowa in a stadium that has become the Buffs' House of Horrors. The 2005 team also fell apart in the second half that year, beginning a slide that led to a coaching change.
Dan Hawkins didn't totally dismiss the idea that he might have robbed his team of momentum by choosing to go for it on fourth down when many would have been more than happy to punt. But he correctly pointed out there was a lot of football played after the decision.
"In this game there are a lot of guys who can sit there on Sunday and go, ‘Yeah, I would have done that differently.' We had a good play, and coulda, woulda, shoulda."
Hawkins later described the state of his team, which lost by 45 last week before losing their game of beat the clock this week.
"They're stunned and everybody is," he said. "You can play it safe and never put yourself in a position to fail or you can decide to jump right in with both feet and you're going to have some of those. You're not going to have the highs and lows if you don't choose to do that. You can stand outside and live a pretty happy average life and not have any pain, but that's part of living and growing and that's part of the whole experience."
Posted by bzainthemd on November 11, 2007 at 7:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ESPN reports that Mike Leach, coach of Texas Tech, blasted officials of their game with UT, especially the head official who lives in Austin and he claimed he was biased. In this case, Clete Blakeman, is not only from NE, but he played QB for NU in the early 80's.
I'm not completely convinced that he was biased, but his quotes are really suspicious. "I started the clock, and Colorado did not get the snap off prior to the clock expiring. Because they only had one second.” Well, they never reviewed how many seconds expired on the kick that we got penalized for (which was his crew's fault in the first place). They determined via verbal conference on the field that it was one second and he's basically saying that they ruled that we could not have snapped the ball in time "because they only had one second." That's very suspicious to me. If we didn't snap it the first time, we would have run out of time apparently waiting for the refs to get "ready". Besides us blowing the game and not putting this team away when we should have, the refs sure didn't make it any easier to come back the way we did. Hawk better get explanations for this and the BigXII right want to look at who's reffing their games.
Posted by walto_clown on November 11, 2007 at 7:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As I posted earlier:
After KU intentionally took a delay of game penalty to gain a better angle for a kick, the clock did not start until they snapped the ball for the field goal attempt. It was a nearly identical scenario (minus the end of the game part) to CU's and handled very differently.
I'm not sure which of the two examples is the norm, I just know they were handled very differently...
Posted by elwayforpresident on November 11, 2007 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We played poorly and deserved to lose, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned is how much time it took the refs to set the ball during Iowa State's last drive. 15-20 seconds ticked off after each play--each of which was a simple run up the middle--before the ball was set and ISU's 35-second clock was started.
Posted by rbboulder on November 11, 2007 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think Leach was correct. In a few plays, the referees were clearly helping the longhorns. In the Buffs case, I think they also helped Iowa St. I don't know if intentionally or not, but I would like to hear the Big XII reviewing and penalizing these referees when appropriate. Otherwise, they will continue to have these problems. Last play aside, we should have never let them score 31 non answered points on us. NEVER. GO BUFFS !
Posted by Ralphie2 on November 11, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
TERRIBLE GAME. WE DO, INDEED, HAVE LEGITIMATE BEEF WITH THE REFS. HOWEVER, IT WAS A TERRIBLE MELTDOWN BY COACHES AND PLAYERS, TOO.
Posted by CoSpgsBuff on November 11, 2007 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Dan needs to remember that this is the Big 12, not intramural sports, and not Pop Warner football for kids. Calling that 4th down play still in Buff territory in the 3rd is not playing to win, it is just plain stupid. I don't care how passionate he is about giving confidence. He is creating an atmosphere of acceptable losses with his gambling, reckless play calling. George Hypolite has the only quote worth repeating. Sure we got jobbed by the officials at the end of the game, what's new? Ever since the 5th down and some untimely comments from CU coaches, we do not get the benefit of the doubt on anything.
Posted by mewag28 on November 11, 2007 at 12:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cody will make a great BACKUP QB next year. He is a gammer, with a big heart, but he does not have (nor do I) the physical attributes to lead CU to the next level.
Coach Hawk took the stupid 4th and 1 gamble when there was little to gain and a lot to lose and he did not take that 4th and 1 gamble (with 8 plus minutes to go in the 4th) when it would have been a smart gamble. Even if we had got stopped then (and I think we would have made it) there was plenty of time to stop IU deep in their territory and get the ball back for a winning drive or tying FG. Yes getting the FG then would of tied the game but given IU the ball with 8 min to go. That was the time to make a smart gamble with great possible returns!!!!
Hawk needs to step up to the big time but I do think he has the program in the right direction if he can avoid making the dumb calls.
I hope they do file a protest over the end of the game as it made no sense. If CU was ready and snapped the ball before it was "put in play" what was the alternative, to let the time just run out while the refs delayed. Once that penalty was called the time can not, realistically or fairly, start to run again until the snap. If it can the rule needs to be changed. CU deserves at least an apology from the Big 12!
Posted by walto_clown on November 11, 2007 at 4:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Little purple one.
Not everyone can contribue to the NFL the way nebraska's favorite son eric crouch did (I know, I know, our Heisman winner didn't do much in the NFL either, but at least he didn't go in making demands of his coaching staff), but we can dream can't we? Don't take our dreams man.
And since you bring up D. Scott...
You suggest in another post that nebraska will always dominate CU. You might want to tell the recruits. You noted that CU stands a fair chance with the #1 running back in the nation. The last time I checked nebraska's recruits are all too busy visiting other school's to return callahan's calls.
I smell fear.
Posted by Black_Rob on November 11, 2007 at 6:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gomer, is it your week to claim to be a NU fan again? They won, are you back on the truck? You haven't used your bigREDone username in a long long time.
Posted by reallifeshocker on November 11, 2007 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i played division-one sports, and i believe, whole-heartedly, the officials have the game, yea the game on the field, the clashing of two teams; this is the most important thing. not themselves, their belisfs, their personal biases. this is all set aside for the "love of the game". i also believe the tooth fairy, my ex-wife really loved me, lindsey lohan is a skilled actor, and the government really wants to help me.
Posted by WhosYourDaddy on November 11, 2007 at 10:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cody simply doesn't have the athletic skills to compete at this level. I sure hope they give Ballenger a chance next year!
Posted by IAM4CUINIOWA on November 11, 2007 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I really hate to bitch about calls. But this game begs for some ref bashing. Not just the last two unorganized calls, but the unneccesary roughness call on ISU's last drive. Our DB barely touched him. Tough to pull up completely when you're headed full speed for a guy. And besides, it's football, not tidly winks!
Another was the pass interference call in the 3rd that kept ISU's drive alive on 4th down. That ball was uncatchable.
Way to much crap to talk about, so let's just re-group and go kick some bugeater a$$. Let's take all this frustration (AND THERE IS A TON OF IT!) out on Cally's kids!!!
Go Buffs, Destroy nu !!!!!
Posted by extrapoint on November 12, 2007 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
maybe some one can help me here.
Mr Hemorrhoid? (big red one)
Seems like there was another game a few years back we lost to the huskers on a controversial pass interference call by an official who was from York NE.
I think there should be a rule disallowing any officials from areas where football is a matter of life and death (nebraska and oklahoma to start with)
(Requires free registration.)
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.