on college football

By AL GRANING

I can’t really say I’m glad the college football season is finally over, because now I’ll have to rely on more than my memory to produce these columns. Anyway, there are still a couple of things I need to discuss to wrap up this season.

The SEC officiating crew, led by referee Steve Shaw, did a remarkably good job in the Orange Bowl game. Southern Cal took Oklahoma out of the game early, which took off a lot of the pressure, but I thought the guys handled it well and kept Oklahoma’s frustration from escalating into a real problem.

There were two calls OU’s coaches questioned that I saw. Television replays showed the officials were right on both.

Early in the game when USC punted, the Oklahoma safety, thinking that the ball had touched one of USC’s cover men, picked up the ball and attempted to run with it. He then fumbled the ball, and USC recovered inside the Oklahoma 10 and went on to score.

The side judge, who was in perfect position on the play, ruled USC had not touched the ball. Had he ruled otherwise, Oklahoma could have taken the ball at the &uot;point of first touching,&uot; regardless of the outcome of the play after the ball was touched by the kicking team.

A foul by the receiving team between the touching and the end of the play would remove that option.

The second play found Oklahoma with fourth down near mid-field and needing to retain possession to try to stay in the game. The OU quarterback, scrambling for a first, was pushed out of bounds by a USC defender. The Oklahoma coaches in that area begged for a first down, but the head linesman &045; even giving the runner a generous spot &045; marked him out of bounds well short of the first.

Television replays should have removed any doubt, for they clearly showed the call was correct. The head linesman, with whose father I officiated many games, is one of the SEC’s best.

Old friend Walter Heard asked me about the &uot;five and 15&uot; rule. There is actually no rule with that name in the NCAA College Football Rules, but if Walter heard a TV commentator refer to that, he needs to realize most know little about the rules and often mix up college and NFL rules.

What likely happened is that during a free kick (a kickoff), there were violations by both teams. If, for instance, the kicking team was offsides and the receiving team clipped during the run back, the penalties would off set and the kick would be replayed.

If the kicking team was offsides and the receiving team committed a personal foul after the ball became dead, both penalties would be enforced, which could create a &uot;five and 15&uot; result.

Doyle Jackson, from the SEC, refereed the Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix. It was his final assignment before his retirement from active officiating.

Doyle was an excellent referee who came over to the SEC when Arkansas joined the conference, so I never got to officiate with him on the field though I did observe a number of his games. I wish him well in his retirement.

And that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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