Eh, I just looked at it and his forward progress had stopped. Certainly a judgment call, but the whistle blew. 1:30:00 of this video:
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Worst NU Loss (or Win?) to Shady Officiating
- Thread starter DuckTownHusker
- Start date
I'm reading the comments on a YouTube video for the 1982 Penn State game and apparently, the referee who called McClosky's catch as good (Jack O’Rourke) was the uncle of a Penn State player. Supposedly, he also made an unfavorable PSU TD call against Alabama in 1983 and negated a great kick return by Pitt.
I have zero idea if that's true (YouTube comments, after all), but it's interesting to wonder that if this guy had a history of making pro-Penn State calls as a ref.
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Here's a NY Times article on the Bama game. Apparently, O'Rourke negated a TD catch that would have capped off an amazing Tide comeback. Alabama went on to lose 4 games that year, so this call didn't sideline them from a possible national title (like Nebraska) but they were undefeated at the time of the Penn State game, so who knows?
Further, Nebraska got revenge against PSU after the 1982 season (and before this 1983 Bama game). The Huskers opened the season in Giants Stadium by clobbering the JoePas 44-6.
www.nytimes.com
I have zero idea if that's true (YouTube comments, after all), but it's interesting to wonder that if this guy had a history of making pro-Penn State calls as a ref.
---edit---
Here's a NY Times article on the Bama game. Apparently, O'Rourke negated a TD catch that would have capped off an amazing Tide comeback. Alabama went on to lose 4 games that year, so this call didn't sideline them from a possible national title (like Nebraska) but they were undefeated at the time of the Penn State game, so who knows?
Further, Nebraska got revenge against PSU after the 1982 season (and before this 1983 Bama game). The Huskers opened the season in Giants Stadium by clobbering the JoePas 44-6.
PLAYS; ALABAMA PASS CALL REVIEWED (Published 1983)
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1. I think I remember a t-shirt, post the Penn St. game, that showed a redesign of the football field. Not only was extra added to the sideline where the receiver caught the ball but some was removed from the back of the end zone as well. Didn't Nebraska score a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone that was called a no catch? (On a side note, my dad started a limo business after retiring, in the CT. & NY. area. He drove Blackledge to an awards dinner in NY City and gave him lighthearted crap the whole way.)
2. All are good nominations so far. The "1 second" debacle seems to me to be a legit gripe; the call was correct but it seemed to set a new precedent, a change from the day when the refs called the game over to a new day where they added the ability to use technology to "fix" or alter something after the fact, (and the part that hurts) when they decide to (another variable!!!) Why don't they go back and see illegal rub plays or holding calls that effect every play or game?
3. The "One" for me is actually more than one game. It aways seemed that Miami (plug your team name in here) defensive backs would hit our receivers early every play; pass interference never called. Back in the day, game after game, Nebraska backs were flagged at the worst times, but our receivers couldn't get a break. Missouri's play of the century, the first target (Purify?) was hit long before the ball got there. No call. Just lucky he kicked it back up in the air.
4. Anybody have 2 tickets to the Colorado game I can have?
2. All are good nominations so far. The "1 second" debacle seems to me to be a legit gripe; the call was correct but it seemed to set a new precedent, a change from the day when the refs called the game over to a new day where they added the ability to use technology to "fix" or alter something after the fact, (and the part that hurts) when they decide to (another variable!!!) Why don't they go back and see illegal rub plays or holding calls that effect every play or game?
3. The "One" for me is actually more than one game. It aways seemed that Miami (plug your team name in here) defensive backs would hit our receivers early every play; pass interference never called. Back in the day, game after game, Nebraska backs were flagged at the worst times, but our receivers couldn't get a break. Missouri's play of the century, the first target (Purify?) was hit long before the ball got there. No call. Just lucky he kicked it back up in the air.
4. Anybody have 2 tickets to the Colorado game I can have?
True story. I'm glad you brought that up. It wasn't just the out-of-bounds catch on the sidelines (which the PSU TE admitted in an interview 15-20 years later that he was out), but also the TD that very likely bounced on the turf prior to being cradled.
Anyhow, most consider the '82 team to have been better than the '83 team. Offense was about as incredible. Defense was definitely better.
Those two years were possibly the most painful (and yet with plenty of amazing moments) in NU football history. 1982, 1983 (and probably 1999) were the best teams that never won a national title. And misfortune at the highest degree prevented what could have been a national title in both '82 and '83. Incredible teams to watch. Still probably my favorite.
No the go ahead TD throw to the back of the End zone was also out of bounds. Not as bad but it was out.
I have a friend that played for Penn State on that team. He was on the sideline and tells me he couldn't believe it was called a catch.
This one chaps me because:
1. People don't understand the rule
2. If you saw the whole play (a couple seconds before the TV version) B Reilly was clearly pushed out by the DB.
I always liked Sparty, but their reaction after this game made me believe they're the biggest whiners in sports.
Some national (not Nebraska) sports analyst reviewed the game tape, and on virtually every other 40 some incompletions in the game a couple of seconds ran off the clock after the ball contacted the ground...
The T-shirt was the pre-internet equivalent of a meme, and they ran a story on it in the OWH. The picture on the shirt showed an overhead view of Beaver Stadium's football field, but the boundary had a jog out of bounds on the sideline for where the Penn State receiver caught the pass against Nebraska, and there was a jog in bounds in the back of the same end zone where the Alabama player who caught a TD against Penn State in '83 was ruled as being out-of-bounds.
Watch the video link below to see the Alabama call, which was even more egregious than the call that went against Nebraska in '82, though it proved to have much less significance as both teams struggled for the rest of the year.
...and that is the rest of the story.
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That t-shirt was very commonly seen worn in the 80s. I lived in Lincoln and saw it all the time. Though the version I saw only had the sidelines notch. It was referred to as the L-shaped field.
Exactly!
But would you really expect the ref to stop the game at every incompletion and check the clock? Every out of bounds play? You check it when it makes an impact on the game, which unfortunately was at the 0:01 mark. It was a gut-punching change, but it was the right call.
