oh well. "The Shove" as Ivan Maisel has called it is, in fact, against the rules. Imagine that......However, Maisel goes on to say no official in their right mind would call that in that situation seeing how it is something done every Saturday. This sounds kinda like that jumping during a field goal rule that is never called, especially in game tying or winning situations. Oh...wait, you say that was called as recently as last year? (SORRY...HAD TO DO IT SINCE IT IS AUBARN WEEK)
Back to the luck angle for a moment. The Shove is one thing but no one seems to even comment on the play before that. If Leinhart hadn't fumbled out of bounds, the game would probably have been over. Was the fumble accidental or was Leinhart smart enough to fumble deliberately when he saw he wasn't gong in for a TD? Or maybe.........it was just dumb luck?
The problem wasn't "the Shove," it was the spot. Lienert himself went out of bounds at the one yard line, but the ball went out at the 2 or 2-and-a-half yard line. Without a "friendly spot" by the Pac-10 officiating crew, Leinert never gets the opportunity to run the play.
Luck is a HUGE factor in winning a title, fact is LSU had a great deal of it when we won it in 2003. Missed Field goals (UGA, Ole Miss) some losses by other teams. Fact is as Auburn can attest all the moons must align let alone win. LSU was a great team in 2003, no question the best in the nation, but we had some luck as well, as does every team that wins a championship.
He didn't go out of bounds, the ball did. The fumble appeared to go backwards to around the 2 yard line, but it's hard to tell with the camera angle. Stopping the clock was the right thing ... spotting the ball inside the one was questionable. If you spot it on the 2, the may have elected to kick the field goal ... who knows.
Wow I thought I knew the rule on this, turns out I was wrong. I was always under the impression that you were allowed to push a runner or pile forward, but you were not allowed to PULL the runner foward. Turns out my understanding of the rules were for the NFL. In the NFL it is indeed legal to push your teamate foward, as long as you do not grab onto his jersey and pull. In college, both of them are illegal. Here is the excerpt from the NCAA Rulebook. I guess you learn something everyday about the rules...I came to this thread expecting to clarify that what Bush did was legal because he only pushed. Turns out it would be legal in the NFL, but not here.
Because, from the 2.5 yard line, there's no way CPC calls Leinert's number. USC would've been forced to kick and send the game into OT.
Im so glad USC won! I hoped they would have beat them by 21. If ND would have won this game we would never hear the end of it. I hate both USC and ND so I pulled for the lesser evil in my opinion.
