Last night I settled in for an evening of football.
There were 2 games on TV that I was excited about.
Jets-Patriots on Thursday Night Football & South Alabama-Appalachian State.
I thought I might get two good games.
Turns out Aaron Rodgers is still good, and the Patriots are in fact who we thought they were.
South Alabama might have well been regular Alabama last night the way they shit down App States' throat.
It was a Tigers off.
I turned the game on in the 4th quarter.
The score was Edward Waters 28, Benedict College 25.
I figured I might catch a fun finish before bed.
And boy did I.
But you wouldn’t have known than based on everything that was happening.
I’ll set the stage for the finish quick.
One more important note.
The play clock at Charlie W. Johnson stadium was completely broken.
I’m pretty sure the refs were just counting on their fingers.
I assume the refs were yelling out 10 second, and 5 second warnings.
Edward Waters busts a big run and gets the ball to midfield.
They end up at 3rd & 2 with 1 minute on the clock.
No timeouts left for Benedict.
They can snap the ball with just over 50 seconds left.
That should essentially end the game.
Now hey watch the play and enjoy the chaos that ensues.
I apologize for my commentary over the video.
I wish I would have shut up as well.
And I had to film the whole thing with my phone, so the quality is shit.
But you could still see what happens.
At no point did the announcers give any sort of explanation as to what was going on.
Even after the game was over, I went to bed last night having zero clue what happened.
I’m not positive the coaches did either.
Anybody watching was left completely hung out to dry.
But this I figured it out.
I learned a new college football rule.
The game clock will start on the referees signal.2.
If there is less than one minute in the half the opponent has the option of a 10-second subtraction.
The play clock will be set at 25 seconds.
If there is a 10-second subtraction the game clock will start on the referees signal.
If there is no 10-second subtraction the game clock will start on the snap.
The 10-second subtraction may be avoided by the use of a team timeout, if available.
There is no option for a 10-second subtraction if helmets come off opposing players."
So the refs got the rule right.
It’s really not complicated.
I’m sure a lot of people reading this knew this rule from the jump.
I’m not sure why it would have taken them 10 minutes to sort that out.
And you’d think that during that time, someone could have relayed that rule to the announcers.
Instead it was total chaos.
On the field and off.
Edward Waters is now forced to punt away the football.
Benedict gets the ball back to the 20.
They have 80 yards to go with 35 seconds left and no timeouts.
That’s just how football works.
Of course they’re going to go for it.
What an incredible choke job by the camera man.
There was no fake hand off.
The quarterback didn’t even look the other way.
Nothing whatsoever that should have been difficult for the camera man to follw.
His hand must have slipped.
He must have accidently turned the zoom knob.
Maybe he was so electrified by Edward Waters-Benedict College that he lost control of his arms.
Thankfully, ESPN2 brought a second camera man.
