Dirty Laundry

"Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down

You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry "

Thank you Don Henley for that magical song, "Dirty Laundry".

In a game that the Irish were going to need some breaks to win, the Irish got very few and came up short, losing to #5 ranked (now #2 in the BCS) Boston College 27 - 14. A flag happy officiating crew certainly didn't help either.


A few notes from the game, which the Pope attended:



- Our defense played well, especially given the short field our offense gave them on two drives (more on that later). Matt Ryan took the checkdown receiver on nearly every pass, and handled our blitz very well. We gave up very few big plays, and even scored a TD. More pressure on Ryan would have been the only realistic improvement our defense could have made in the game, but certainly they were blitzing and at least trying to rattle the QB.



- It might just be bad karma from the 4th and 9 play in 2005, but its time for Ambrose Wooden to see the bench and not the field. The guy continues to be around the play and make tackles, but on receivers that he failed to cover. I might be picking on him too much, but I get an awful feeling whenever I see #22 on the field or around the ball.



- The stadium was loud in the second half. I was happy to see Irish fans cheering and feeling that a victory was never in doubt until 5 minutes to go in the game.



- A few huge officiating calls that proved to be the difference between an overtime game or even an outright win for the Irish:

• Geoff Price's knee being called "down" during a low, botched snap on a punt. The punter was never pressured and booted a solid 45 to 50 yard punt, only to have the ball marked where he caught the snap. The drive for BC resulted in a TD, given the very short field they had due to the play. Ive said time and time again, the NFL rule of being down only when another player on the defense tackles or touches a player while down needs to be applied to college. This was ludicrous as he was simply trying to balance himself to catch the snap, which he did. The real problem might be with the rule, but none the less Price's knee touched the ground for just a split second, and the call never should have been made.


• Excessive celebration after the Irish closed the gap 20-14 after a defensive touchdown on an interception return by true freshman Brian Smith [Note: After the game the Pope saw Brian Smith and Gary Gray at Buffalo Wild Wings on Grape Rd. The Pope gave Brian a blessing for his big play and noted that he liked the "Asian Zing" buffalo sauce.] The Irish team piled up in the end zone, celebrating the score as a team. However, the officials saw this as excessive. They should have seen the Pope in the parking lot before the game, who would have been penalized for excessive drinking. Either way, we gave BC the ball on our own 40, promptly resulting in another TD out of their 3 total.


• 4th & 1, 5 minutes to go in the game, the Irish score a touchdown on a play action pass to Robby Parris. The gutsy call pulled the Irish to 27 to 21 after the extra pt . . . but no, holding was called on the play by LG Mike Turkovich. Thats a tough call to make on a play that certainly was the play of the game. I haven't been able to see the replay, but I hope it was a blatant tackle/hold, because anything less likely would not have affected the play and thus should have not changed the game. The Irish would have kicked off to BC with 3 timeouts in a 27 to 21 game with 5 minutes to go - and the stadium would have been rocking. Instead, the Irish had to go for a 4th down and 10 and came up short.


• 3rd and 12 one play before the call above. Evan Sharpely amazingly escapes pressure to deliver the ball to Carlson for what looks to be a 12 yard gain and a first down. The spot is then reviewed up in the booth, which was the first booth review of a spot of this type I had ever seen in a college game. The officials move the ball back a half of a yard, setting up the 4th and 1 mentioned above. This was only wild because a) it happened back to back with the above terrible call and b) Ive never seen a spot review that the other team or an official on the field did not request.


• My favorite officiating move of the game was in many ways the most telling. Irish Tight End John Carlson stepped back from the line to go into a standard motion in the backfield, which tight ends do probably 40% of the plays on the Irish offense. The flag-happy referee immediately through a flag, jumping the gun on what he thought was a false start. He then picked up the flag and corected his mistake. Despite his correction, he still looked like a complete idiot that was obviously throwing flags at everything.
• Referee quote of the day on the stadium loud speaker: "Please put Nyinne Teeehnn on the clock." I'm from Tennessee so I guess I cant make fun.

To be fair, the Irish had a few roughing the passer penalties in our favor that were very likely bad calls. The officials did not blow this game, but they certainly didnt provide the Irish much of a chance given how ineffective our offense and especially rushing game performed.

I wish the officials would eat their dirty laundry after that game.