About the Gator timeout during the last FG attempt...

[Coupe De VOL]

...I realize that there were 12 men on the field, but didn't McElwain wait till the very last second to call the timeout, as if he were icing the kicker?  I vaguely remember that while watching the game.  Amazingly, I did not delete my DVR recording of the game in disgust - I guess I'll have to go back and watch that again, if I can bear it.

[Creek Walker]

Yes he did. And if I understand the rule correctly, it should've been a penalty.

Amazingly, some on the VS are demanding an SEC front office explanation for the ball being re-spotted in the wrong place after the first kick attempt. They're blaming Tennessee for doing it (as if the center gets to place the ball himself), and also suggesting the refs were to blame. Of course they're completely ignoring the fact that the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion on that drive. I don't know whose clock management was worse in the final minute: Butch's, or the refs. Both were amazingly bad. Les Miles had to have gotten a good laugh out of that entire sequence.

[Flea]

Yes he did. And if I understand the rule correctly, it should've been a penalty.

Amazingly, some on the VS are demanding an SEC front office explanation for the ball being re-spotted in the wrong place after the first kick attempt. They're blaming Tennessee for doing it (as if the center gets to place the ball himself), and also suggesting the refs were to blame. Of course they're completely ignoring the fact that the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion on that drive. I don't know whose clock management was worse in the final minute: Butch's, or the refs. Both were amazingly bad. Les Miles had to have gotten a good laugh out of that entire sequence.

What should have been a penalty? UF called the timeout before the snap, so there was no foul. It is curious why the ball was placed at the wrong spot for the re-kick, because had UT made the kick it would be a huge controversy right now. My guess is the refs simply placed the ball in the wrong spot, but it sure doesn't make that crew look good to do something that gave UT an advantage on the re-kick.

Can you specify where the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion that drive? On the last play before the FG try, the Vol player's forward progress was clearly stopped in bounds before being taken backward out of bounds and the ref correctly ruled that the clock should run after the ready for play.

[PirateVOL]

Yes he did. And if I understand the rule correctly, it should've been a penalty.

Amazingly, some on the VS are demanding an SEC front office explanation for the ball being re-spotted in the wrong place after the first kick attempt. They're blaming Tennessee for doing it (as if the center gets to place the ball himself), and also suggesting the refs were to blame. Of course they're completely ignoring the fact that the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion on that drive. I don't know whose clock management was worse in the final minute: Butch's, or the refs. Both were amazingly bad. Les Miles had to have gotten a good laugh out of that entire sequence.

we lost by my estimate between 8-12 seconds of clock time or 1-2'playsnof time

[BanditVol]

What should have been a penalty? UF called the timeout before the snap, so there was no foul. It is curious why the ball was placed at the wrong spot for the re-kick, because had UT made the kick it would be a huge controversy right now. My guess is the refs simply placed the ball in the wrong spot, but it sure doesn't make that crew look good to do something that gave UT an advantage on the re-kick.

Can you specify where the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion that drive? On the last play before the FG try, the Vol player's forward progress was clearly stopped in bounds before being taken backward out of bounds and the ref correctly ruled that the clock should run after the ready for play.

The call of stopping of forward progress was not correct, and was a horrible call. The player clearly made it out of bounds.  The sideline official also didn't signal that the clock was starting on the fumble out of bounds, at least not from what anyone can see from the broadcast.  Finally, and most galling to me, on every single play the clock ran a few seconds after the whistle was blown and the refs did nothing.  We cummulatively lost a good 12-15 seconds from that.  Don't believe me?  Go back and watch the replay.  The clock was all homer in the last drive.  It was very obvious.   

[PirateVOL]

The sideline official also didn't signal that the clock was starting on the fumble out of bounds, at least not from what anyone can see from the broadcast.  Finally, and most galling to me, on every single play the clock ran a few seconds after the whistle was blown and the refs did nothing.  We cummulatively lost a good 12-15 seconds from that.  Don't believe me?  Go back and watch the replay.  The clock was all homer in the last drive.  It was very obvious.  

he didn't
I was looking right at him from no more than 15'yards. His initial, partial, indication was to wind the clock (about a half wind) but then IMMEDIATELY he signaled time out.

[Creek Walker]

What should have been a penalty? UF called the timeout before the snap, so there was no foul. It is curious why the ball was placed at the wrong spot for the re-kick, because had UT made the kick it would be a huge controversy right now. My guess is the refs simply placed the ball in the wrong spot, but it sure doesn't make that crew look good to do something that gave UT an advantage on the re-kick.

Can you specify where the refs completely screwed up the clock on more than one occasion that drive? On the last play before the FG try, the Vol player's forward progress was clearly stopped in bounds before being taken backward out of bounds and the ref correctly ruled that the clock should run after the ready for play.

Sorry, but even a Florida homer should be able to objectively see that the refs screwed up multiple times the final drive. As these other guys said, it was at least 12-15 seconds between an incorrect ruling on forward progress, not stopping the clock at the whistle on the initial first down of the drive, etc. And you want to focus on the spot of the ball? You caught a monumental break from the officials on that series, so don't bitch about the spot of the ball.

[Creek Walker]

Also, if you want to talk about officials on the final sequence, let's talk about how an entire team can go onto the field -- with some of the players going over in front of the opposing team bench to celebrate, taunt and talk trash -- before the game is over without being penalized.

Incompetent officiating made Florida damned lucky to win the game. It's just that it was overshadowed by incompetent coaching from Tennessee.

[BanditVol]

Incompetent officiating made Florida damned lucky to win the game. It's just that it was overshadowed by incompetent coaching from Tennessee.

Sad but true.

[Flea]

The call of stopping of forward progress was not correct, and was a horrible call. The player clearly made it out of bounds. 

I just watched the play again. The Vol receiver is in bounds and moving forward when he is hit by the UF defender. The hit drives him backward and out of bounds. By rule, this means his forward progress was in bounds and the clock should never have been stopped. The linesman should have wound his arm and then the crew immediately resets the ball for the next down. He actually did a half-wind and marked the spot of forward progress in bounds, then killed the clock (maybe changing his mind? No idea). But Butch immediately asks him which it is. Then when the ball was re-spotted, the referee wound the clock (did the linesman re-change his mind, or maybe realized he shouldn't have stopped it? It would seem so). So the linesman actually stopping the clock was an error that caused the UT bench to be confused about whether the clock was going to restart on the ready or the snap. If the play had been officiated correctly, the clock would never have stopped, and UT would still have had to use a timeout, although it's hard to say whether that means more time would have run off or UT would have called the timeout sooner than it happened.  Either way, the poor officiating on that play did cause some distress to UT so I'm going to concede on that, even though the forward progress in bounds call was the correct call -- they still fuzzed it up.

On the fumble out of bounds, the clock should have been restarted on the snap, since it was in the last two minutes of the game. It was started on the ready, which cost UT at least 10 seconds. So they fuzzed that one up, too. 

Note that I wasn't disputing that they made mistakes -- I just asked for specifics so I could consider them. My original point about forward progress was correct, but I agree with you guys that the refs cost you a lot of time with the way they handled those two plays.

[PirateVOL]

I just watched the play again. The Vol receiver is in bounds and moving forward when he is hit by the UF defender. The hit drives him backward and out of bounds. By rule, this means his forward progress was in bounds and the clock should never have been stopped. The linesman should have wound his arm and then the crew immediately resets the ball for the next down. He actually did a half-wind and marked the spot of forward progress in bounds, then killed the clock (maybe changing his mind? No idea). But Butch immediately asks him which it is. Then when the ball was re-spotted, the referee wound the clock (did the linesman re-change his mind, or maybe realized he shouldn't have stopped it? It would seem so). So the linesman actually stopping the clock was an error that caused the UT bench to be confused about whether the clock was going to restart on the ready or the snap. If the play had been officiated correctly, the clock would never have stopped, and UT would still have had to use a timeout, although it's hard to say whether that means more time would have run off or UT would have called the timeout sooner than it happened.  Either way, the poor officiating on that play did cause some distress to UT so I'm going to concede on that, even though the forward progress in bounds call was the correct call -- they still fuzzed it up.

On the fumble out of bounds, the clock should have been restarted on the snap, since it was in the last two minutes of the game. It was started on the ready, which cost UT at least 10 seconds. So they fuzzed that one up, too. 

Note that I wasn't disputing that they made mistakes -- I just asked for specifics so I could consider them. My original point about forward progress was correct, but I agree with you guys that the refs cost you a lot of time with the way they handled those two plays.

Explain this:
https://amp.twimg.com/amplify-web-player/prod/source.html?video_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvideo.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fvid%2F720x720%2FAGaYOe33INdZbux_.mp4&content_type=video%2Fmp4&image_src=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video_thumb%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fimg%2FZvhcPb1QgTLhSPXW.jpg&video_owner_id=1212079375&language_code=en&media_id=648556735532277760&json_rpc=1

[crockettman]

Bottom line..Jones won the 1st half by coaching to win and being aggressive..He lost the 2nd half by being conservative and coaching to keep from losing..Same as the OU game..Be a man,take the hit and the responsibility and learn from it and coach aggressive for a complete game and your players will follow and you won't have to find excuses..Coach from the heart,not a damned chart!

[PirateVOL]

Bottom line..Jones won the 1st half by coaching to win and being aggressive..He lost the 2nd half by being conservative and coaching to keep from losing..Same as the OU game..Be a man,take the hit and the responsibility and learn from it and coach aggressive for a complete game and your players will follow and you won't have to find excuses..Coach from the heart,not a damned chart!

I don't think we were that conservative in the 2nd half.  The execution wasn't as great but when Hurd is moving piles, with a lead then it is good IMO.  No, we didn't have the two trick plays in the 2nd half but then IMO we didn't need them.  The two trick plays really distract from the fact that the play calling was similar in both halves.  When the game is on the line and three (3) OLs are 3-5 yards in the backfield that is not play calling, that is damn poor execution. 

The passing game?  At least two poor throws, a non catch by Pearson, two whiffs by the right side of the OL, 3 other attempted passes that poor OL play resulted in broken plays (one of which resulted in a long gain on pure individual effort by Dobbs), and those are just from memory.  Can I second guess some play calls?  Absolutely, see my four play calls post but in general I think we did not repeat the mistakes (on offense) that we did against OU (also, as I noted in a text during the game, there was much more awareness (the first sack notwithstanding) of blitzes.  One play Dobbs pulled it down and ran to the spot the corner had vacated for a nice gain.  Several times Hurd or a WR/TE pointed out blitzers to Dobbs). 

Till the penultimate drive, we moved the ball in the 2nd half.  In the penultimate drive our OL play was beyond abysmal.

[crockettman]

The last drive before UF took the lead was terrible..what,3 runs and a punt?..They folded like a cheap tent..IMO that's where you have to be aggressive and put the game away..

[Flea]

Explain this:
https://amp.twimg.com/amplify-web-player/prod/source.html?video_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvideo.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fvid%2F720x720%2FAGaYOe33INdZbux_.mp4&content_type=video%2Fmp4&image_src=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video_thumb%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fimg%2FZvhcPb1QgTLhSPXW.jpg&video_owner_id=1212079375&language_code=en&media_id=648556735532277760&json_rpc=1

Looks like they were slow in acknowledging that it was a first down and stopping the clock. Of course it's never going to be instantaneous as soon as the guy hits the ground, but you would at least hope for a sense of urgency in that situation. Often if it's not an obvious first down, they may not stop it until the referee comes up and takes a look, which appears to be what happened here. But considering the game situation and urgency needed with all clock issues in the closing minute of a half, I'd say they should have been quicker on that. It definitely cost you a few seconds there.

[PirateVOL]

Looks like they were slow in acknowledging that it was a first down and stopping the clock. Of course it's never going to be instantaneous as soon as the guy hits the ground, but you would at least hope for a sense of urgency in that situation. Often if it's not an obvious first down, they may not stop it until the referee comes up and takes a look, which appears to be what happened here. But considering the game situation and urgency needed with all clock issues in the closing minute of a half, I'd say they should have been quicker on that. It definitely cost you a few seconds there.

They waited for the white hat to get there.  Inexcusable   The ref just had to look at the stick across the field (yes I know that is not the "official" stick but it is there for a reason, he could have looked behind his as well) to note the play was a good yard past it.  That was not the only time that occurred on the drive. 

[BanditVol]

Explain this:
https://amp.twimg.com/amplify-web-player/prod/source.html?video_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvideo.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fvid%2F720x720%2FAGaYOe33INdZbux_.mp4&content_type=video%2Fmp4&image_src=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fext_tw_video_thumb%2F648556735532277760%2Fpu%2Fimg%2FZvhcPb1QgTLhSPXW.jpg&video_owner_id=1212079375&language_code=en&media_id=648556735532277760&json_rpc=1

Exactly what i was saying.  And it happened on every first whistle when the clock should have stopped!  The refs did NOTHING, but should have.