Were Officials to Blame for Navy Loss?

While certainly not as blatant or harmful as what happened to Oklahoma last week, the buzz around the Navy message boards is that the Mids were screwed by the CUSA officials during yesterday's game against Tulsa.

Frankly, I think it's hard to pin a loss on the the officials, especially when your defense gives up over 400 yards and your offense is unable to sustain a long drive. That being said, it seemed as though all the breaks were going against Navy, starting from Navy's very first snap of the game. Right before Navy's first snap on their first possession, a blitzing Tulsa defender appeared to run across the line shortly before the play, an action which should have resulted in an offsides penalty. Instead no flag was thrown and the Tulsa defender was able to infiltrate the backfield with ease, breaking up an option play and forcing a fumble. Fortunately Navy recovered the fumble and actually was able to pick up the first down a few plays later, but it looked as though the early no-call set the tone for a tentative Brian Hampton on the option for the rest of the game.

Taken alone, this really wouldn't be a huge deal, but the amount of mistakes seemed to pile up as the game went on. There was of course a flag on a Reggie Campbell chop block, which was no different then any normal block someone of his height (5'6) would use on a larger defender. Campbell was the only blocker on the defender and approached him from head on- a perfectly legal block which navy executes on an every-down basis! The 15 yards from the penalty pretty much killed Navy's opening drive. Campbell was called later in the game for a "illegal motion" penalty which took the Mids from a 3rd and short situation to a 3rd and long situation. Further review of Campbell's actions show he took a slight step backwards- which, if you weren't aware, is not an illegal move.

Then of course there was the whole issue of the play clock running out on a 29 yard Jarod Tracy field goal in the 4th quarter. The clock obviously expired, yet the kick was true and there was no call for a delay of game penalty which would have set Tracy back five yards. Isn't one of the officials suppose to be watching the play clock? I realize Tracy would likely have still hit the kick, but on a windy day, who knows?

There were also two other calls I thought could have gone either way, although both ended up going to Tulsa. First there was a phantom holding call on Navy's 3rd down attempt on their last regulation drive. The image above represents a meager attempt to provide an "Exhibit A" for what I believe was an injustice of a call. Inconclusive at best, I know. Yet it doesn't appear to be a blatant hold, and with the two teams going down to the wire with only minutes left, did it really need to be called? In addition, on Tulsa's overtime possession the Golden Hurricane ran a pick on Rover Jeff Deliz (watch said infraction hyah) that was not called.

Obviously Navy didn't help their case by making this game close enough to win even with poor officiating, but for anyone who was at the stadium on Saturday it was apparent that the Mids got a bad deal. Hopefully the crew for next week's game will actually be watching the play on the field.