It's kind of hard to explain these but I'll try:
1st down, Illinois had the ball and rushed for what they thought was 1 yard shy of the 1st down. The sideline marker changed to 2nd down. They then rushed for 1+ yards. The marker changed to 1st down. HOWEVER unbeknownst to them, the officials had actually called the first run a first down, even though the marker changed to 2nd down. So Illinois played another down. Marker changed to 2nd down. (Again OFFICIALLY it was 3rd down.) Illinois threw an incomplete pass. Marker changes to 3rd down. Illinois lines up and runs a play thinking it was 3rd down not realizing that it was actually 4th down. Sosa the Illini coaches are deciding if they want to go for it, the officials stop the game and tell them that they had turned the ball over, even though the marker just changed to 4th down. Does this make any sense? Well, after a prolonged review, the officials ruled that they indeed did turn the ball over. WHAT? I didn't realize that the sidelines can't rely on the down marker as the official indicator through AN ENTIRE series.
The second one was Illinois threw a pass that was ruled complete. Time's running down so they quickly lined up and threw another pass that was incomplete. (Keep in mind that although it was no huddle, it wasn't one of those crazy fast, spike the ball scenario's, just no huddle.) BUT after that 2nd play was whistled dead (the incompletion), the officials said that the PREVIOUS play (the completion) was under review. Maybe I'm wrong but since when can the officials actually wipe out an entire play even though the ball was snapped and the next play was completed? I mean what if that 2nd play had resulted in a TD? Note that there were no whistles blown at all during the second play. So I guess the "Hurry up, snap the ball" theory doesn't apply anymore? Maybe there is precedent but I've never seen this before.
They were truly head scratchers and I would guess that the B1G will have to come out this week with some kind of statement or more likely reprimands for one or both of these plays.
1st down, Illinois had the ball and rushed for what they thought was 1 yard shy of the 1st down. The sideline marker changed to 2nd down. They then rushed for 1+ yards. The marker changed to 1st down. HOWEVER unbeknownst to them, the officials had actually called the first run a first down, even though the marker changed to 2nd down. So Illinois played another down. Marker changed to 2nd down. (Again OFFICIALLY it was 3rd down.) Illinois threw an incomplete pass. Marker changes to 3rd down. Illinois lines up and runs a play thinking it was 3rd down not realizing that it was actually 4th down. Sosa the Illini coaches are deciding if they want to go for it, the officials stop the game and tell them that they had turned the ball over, even though the marker just changed to 4th down. Does this make any sense? Well, after a prolonged review, the officials ruled that they indeed did turn the ball over. WHAT? I didn't realize that the sidelines can't rely on the down marker as the official indicator through AN ENTIRE series.
The second one was Illinois threw a pass that was ruled complete. Time's running down so they quickly lined up and threw another pass that was incomplete. (Keep in mind that although it was no huddle, it wasn't one of those crazy fast, spike the ball scenario's, just no huddle.) BUT after that 2nd play was whistled dead (the incompletion), the officials said that the PREVIOUS play (the completion) was under review. Maybe I'm wrong but since when can the officials actually wipe out an entire play even though the ball was snapped and the next play was completed? I mean what if that 2nd play had resulted in a TD? Note that there were no whistles blown at all during the second play. So I guess the "Hurry up, snap the ball" theory doesn't apply anymore? Maybe there is precedent but I've never seen this before.
They were truly head scratchers and I would guess that the B1G will have to come out this week with some kind of statement or more likely reprimands for one or both of these plays.
