What Ohio State and a game referee said about the Fiesta Bowl’s controversial calls
Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl between Clemson and Ohio State was wild most of the way through.
And that included some questions about officiating.
The most notable question was an Ohio State fumble return touchdown that was overturned. Tigers receiver Justyn Ross appeared to catch a pass and was stripped, but upon review he was not deemed to have possessed the ball.
There was also a somewhat disputed targeting call on Clemson’s first touchdown drive. What several of the key players said about the situation.
Referee Ken Williamson
QUESTION. The targeting call, wondered if you could tell me, what criteria did you use to make the call? Did you consider it a close call or fairly clear?
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: This was a crown-of-the-helmet targeting foul. So it did eliminate a lot of other factors. Initial contact was with the crown of the helmet. Then he wrapped up for the tackle. So at that point, targeting was properly called.
Q. Can you remind me if the call was made on the field?
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: Replay initiated it and they made the call.
Q. Speaking of replay, the catch, fumble, touchdown that was overturned, did you view the play from multiple angles in slow motion during the replay process? Do you have a lot of angles?
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: We had a lot of good looks on it. We put on fast motion and slow motion. The player did not complete the process of the catch, so, therefore, the pass was incomplete.
Q. When we looked at it — of course, we are not looking at it with the same eyes you do. When we’re looking at it, he’s got the ball in both hands and both of his feet were on the ground and he made at least one step and maybe more. So to us, we couldn’t understand. Maybe you can explain it a little bit clearer.
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: After the video, instant replay in the stadium as well as back at the video center, they both looked at it slow and fast and they determined when he moved, the ball was becoming loose in his hands and he did not complete the process of the catch.
Q. So you’re talking about the move once he’s back down on the ground?
REFEREE KEN WILLIAMSON: Yeah.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day
Q. Ryan [Day], as a follow-up to that, there are a couple of officiating calls that went against you guys that I think could be termed controversial. What are your early thoughts on those?
COACH DAY: It is too close right now, and I’m probably too emotional to really talk about those. I’ll have to look at the film and see what that was. But I know there were some plays that were called on the field and then overturned, and when they overturn it, there has to be indisputable evidence. If that’s what they deemed it was, it’s going to be something we’ll have to take a look at. The thing about those plays were certainly that the catch that was returned for a touchdown was such a huge play in the game. The play with Shaun Wade, that was a fourth-down play. It was such a huge play in the game. That J.K. Dobbins catch, those were major plays and they didn’t go our way. So not crying about it. But at the same time, those were big plays that didn’t go our way. And certainly again, a range of emotions about that.
Q. Ryan, I’m not really talking about the calls specifically, but just the emotion when you have things like that, that feel like they’re out of your control in a game like this that is so close. Obviously you guys are frustrated and disappointed. But is this just a little bit of a different feeling when that is part of it as well, that that kind of thing is factored into how you’re dealing with this loss?
COACH DAY: Yeah. Again, I think that it’s a range of emotions, because even though those things were happening, we were overcoming it. We just kept fighting and kept playing. It was like, Don’t worry about those; just keep playing. I think when we look back on it, it is going to be overwhelming. Those game-altering plays that happen in a game, you need those things to go beat a team like Clemson where you’re playing in a semifinal game. You need those one or two plays. Then to miss a couple of them, that hurts you. Again, a range of emotions. We’ll rest on it. Watch the film, and kind of go from there.
This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 3:22 AM.
