Game of Inches

Yes, that is Marquess Wilson catching the football.  Yes, that is the goal line.  No, it wasn’t a ruled a TD.  And no, they didn’t review it.  Damn. 

With so much on the line for both programs (remember Utah is battling for the Pac-12 South title, and if they hammer Colorado next weekend while USC beats UCLA, they are now in the Pac-12 title game!), shouldn’t they stop the game and take another look!?!?  And hey, let’s say they do look at it again.  At least if they did take a second look, the time to go over it would have given the team a little extra time to contemplate going for the win or kicking the field goal? 

And for what it’s worth, and this is in total overreaction Sunday/hindsight mode, but, Victory Bell says GO FOR THE KNOCK OUT.  If it is just a couple of inches, take your chances and go for the win.  If you lose and come up short, at least Wulff can take the podium, look straight into the camera and claim that they were going for the victory, period. 

The so-called coaching “book” says that in that situation, more times than not you go for the tie and OT.  You know, because you are at home, and you are the team that has the momentum by staging the comeback, all that stuff.  And I know that Utah has some behemoth d-tackles, so even asking for a couple of inches might have been difficult.  But on a slippery track, who’s to say your 6-4 1/2 inch QB can’t reach out over the goal line in the scrum? 

And getting to OT, didn’t that actually play into Utah’s favor?  They were the ones with the power running game that was starting to do some damage in the second half with their workhorse running back, as the Coug D was starting to tire under the weight of the turnovers by the offense and the loss of Adam Coerper.  Utah was the team with the kicker who had nailed a 45-yarder in the blizzard earlier in the fourth quarter.  Wasn’t Utah better suited to win this thing if it did in fact get to OT? 

I guess if you can’t get a couple of inches with the game on the line, maybe you don’t deserve to win….and you don’t deserve a bowl?

On to the video highlights (and watch the non-reviewed play at the end, a little after the 13-minute mark.  OUCH.):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXf9Qo4ixYE&w=425&h=246]