What Big Ten’s Bill Carollo would do same, differently on infamous invalid fair catch call in Iowa-Minnesota game

[BleedGopher]

Per Steppe:

Cooper DeJean’s invalid fair catch — the infamous one in Iowa’s loss to Minnesota — has stayed fresh in the minds of many from the Hawkeye State.

“I still think it wasn’t a fair catch,” DeJean said earlier this year while at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

A few months later and a few blocks south of where DeJean made those comments, the Big Ten has been singing a different tune when looking back at the influential call — one that was made by the replay official upstairs.

“Once any waving happens, the ball is going to be dead,” said Bill Carollo, the Big Ten’s coordinator of football officials, at the conference’s media days.

It was a “standard rule that’s reviewable,” Carollo said, and the replay official “properly” overturned the initial call and ruled it an invalid fair catch.

DeJean was pointing with his right arm while appearing to wave below shoulder level with his left arm, perhaps to make sure the rest of the return team stayed away from the bouncing punt. (After all, Iowa suffered a turnover earlier in the season when a punt went off the back of one of the other players on the return unit.)

“You can point, but you can’t point one arm and then wave the other way to get away,” Carollo said.

Carollo said “we’ve called it before.” Before, however, usually doesn’t affect a potential game-winning touchdown in a heated rivalry. That’s not to mention the job implications for Brian Ferentz, considering it was his last game before finding out he would not be retained after the 2023 season.

“We let it go through, and of course, the results were a touchdown,” Carollo said. “So then that looks like, ‘Who’s making this call? And why are you making that call two minutes after the touchdown?’”

Carollo has watched the play “a lot of times from a lot of different angles” and did make a mea culpa. It’s not the mea culpa many Hawkeye fans want to hear, though.

“What we didn’t do properly was the back judge, the person covering the return man, when he caught that ball, the whistle should have been blown dead, and the play was over,” Carollo said.

Had the back judge done that (and stopped the touchdown play from even starting to unfold), “we wouldn’t have the conversation.”

What Big Ten would do same, differently on infamous invalid fair catch call

If a play like Cooper DeJean’s invalid fair catch — the infamous one in Iowa’s loss to Minnesota — happens again in 2024 the final say will go to the Big Ten’s new replay center in Chicago rather than the replay official at the stadium.

www.thegazette.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[jonnyganas]

Per Steppe:

Cooper DeJean’s invalid fair catch — the infamous one in Iowa’s loss to Minnesota — has stayed fresh in the minds of many from the Hawkeye State.

“I still think it wasn’t a fair catch,” DeJean said earlier this year while at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

A few months later and a few blocks south of where DeJean made those comments, the Big Ten has been singing a different tune when looking back at the influential call — one that was made by the replay official upstairs.

“Once any waving happens, the ball is going to be dead,” said Bill Carollo, the Big Ten’s coordinator of football officials, at the conference’s media days.

It was a “standard rule that’s reviewable,” Carollo said, and the replay official “properly” overturned the initial call and ruled it an invalid fair catch.

DeJean was pointing with his right arm while appearing to wave below shoulder level with his left arm, perhaps to make sure the rest of the return team stayed away from the bouncing punt. (After all, Iowa suffered a turnover earlier in the season when a punt went off the back of one of the other players on the return unit.)

“You can point, but you can’t point one arm and then wave the other way to get away,” Carollo said.

Carollo said “we’ve called it before.” Before, however, usually doesn’t affect a potential game-winning touchdown in a heated rivalry. That’s not to mention the job implications for Brian Ferentz, considering it was his last game before finding out he would not be retained after the 2023 season.

“We let it go through, and of course, the results were a touchdown,” Carollo said. “So then that looks like, ‘Who’s making this call? And why are you making that call two minutes after the touchdown?’”

Carollo has watched the play “a lot of times from a lot of different angles” and did make a mea culpa. It’s not the mea culpa many Hawkeye fans want to hear, though.

“What we didn’t do properly was the back judge, the person covering the return man, when he caught that ball, the whistle should have been blown dead, and the play was over,” Carollo said.

Had the back judge done that (and stopped the touchdown play from even starting to unfold), “we wouldn’t have the conversation.”

What Big Ten would do same, differently on infamous invalid fair catch call

If a play like Cooper DeJean’s invalid fair catch — the infamous one in Iowa’s loss to Minnesota — happens again in 2024 the final say will go to the Big Ten’s new replay center in Chicago rather than the replay official at the stadium.

www.thegazette.com

Go Gophers!!

This is exactly correct. If Iowa fans are still not over it, they need to go outside and touch grass.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

This is exactly correct. If Iowa fans are still not over it, they need to go outside and touch smoke grass.

FIFY

 

[ZachRE]

I've heard Ferentz had coordinated with refs before the game to make sure such a hand movement would be okay. I have some doubts this is true. But if true, it does make me think he's trying as much bulls**t as possible, and am glad it backfired on his conspiring ass.

 

[Schnauzer]

This comes up on tick tock or elsewhere on a regular basis and each time the comments are flooded with a bunch of “bad call” opinions from Iowa fans that literally don’t know what was actually called. Always the same pointless comments…

“that wasn’t a fair catch”
“His hand wasn’t over his head”
“They weren’t reviewing for that. They were reviewing if he stepped out of bounds”

All totally unrelated to what was actually properly called. I’m amazed at how willfully ignorant Iowa fans remain on this thing.

 

[mngolf]

I'm not amazed at how ignorant Iowa fans are.

 

[GVLCGopherFan]

This comes up on tick tock or elsewhere on a regular basis and each time the comments are flooded with a bunch of “bad call” opinions from Iowa fans that literally don’t know what was actually called. Always the same pointless comments…

“that wasn’t a fair catch”
“His hand wasn’t over his head”
“They weren’t reviewing for that. They were reviewing if he stepped out of bounds”

All totally unrelated to what was actually properly called. I’m amazed at how willfully ignorant Iowa fans remain on this thing.

Even DeJean’s comment in the article is “he doesn’t think it was a fair catch”.

 

[UMwolverine]

I'm neither an Iowa nor a Minnesota fan so have no dog in this fight. But to me, it's a player safety issue. If the defender racing down the field has to decide in a split second whether the receiver waving his arm around is above the shoulder or not, the advice moving forward would always be nail the receiver, try to knock the ball out and worry about the call later. There should not be any gray area . That was a fair catch signal.

 

[BilldGopher]

This is exactly correct. If Iowa fans are still not over it, they need to go outside and touch grass.

Purely coincidence but I learned today what that saying actually means.

Sweet and most appropriate.

 

[caliGopher]

Lost in the Corn Chickens pain and suffering is that while the right call was made, we can't put that decision into the hands of the officials. The lack of discipline and execution on special teams last year was an embarrassment.

We're lucky the refa made the right call. We don't always get the right call from B1G refs. Mental breakdowns like this happened frequently last year and it cost us the Illinois game and the Northwestern game.

 

[BigTenGuy]

Per Steppe:

. . .

“What we didn’t do properly was the back judge, the person covering the return man, when he caught that ball, the whistle should have been blown dead, and the play was over,” Carollo said. . . .

This is correct. Should have been called on the field at the time.

I'm surprised Carollo's mea culpa didn't include his horrible post-game explanation, where he said: "If you look at ground video of it, you might say this doesn't look like much of a wave," Carollo added. "But if you look at the high (camera view) [the angle that no player and no official on the field had] over the top, he's actually waving." That was not a helpful explanation.

Also, I wish someone would explain what brought about the rule change in 2021, where subsection g was added to the following rule identifying what plays involving kicks are reviewable:

ARTICLE 4. Reviewable plays involving kicks include:
a. Touching of a kick.
b. Player beyond the neutral zone when kicking the ball.
c. Kicking team player advancing a ball after a potential muffed kick/fumble
by the receiving team.
d. Scrimmage kick crossing the neutral zone.
e. Blocking by players of the kicking team before they are eligible to touch
the ball on an on-side kick.
f. A player touching or recovering a kick or loose ball who is or has been out
of bounds during the kick.
g. Receiving team advancing after a fair catch signal.

Was there a key missed invalid fair catch signal in some game that resulted in subsection g?

 

[topos]

I love that this still haunts Hawkeye fans. I’m glad it played out the way it did.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I love that this still haunts Hawkeye fans. I’m glad it played out the way it did.

Only 280 days later

 

[GophersInIowa]

And the part that continues to be ignored is that the Big Ten refs admitted afterwards a pre-kick penalty should have been called on Iowa which would have given MN a fresh set of downs. Iowa still actually benefited from a missed call and ended up in a better situation than they should have been in.

 

[STPGopher]

I'm neither an Iowa nor a Minnesota fan so have no dog in this fight. But to me, it's a player safety issue. If the defender racing down the field has to decide in a split second whether the receiver waving his arm around is above the shoulder or not, the advice moving forward would always be nail the receiver, try to knock the ball out and worry about the call later. There should not be any gray area . That was a fair catch signal. That was an invalid fair catch signal. FIFY.

 

[STPGopher]

And the part that continues to be ignored is that the Big Ten refs admitted afterwards a pre-kick penalty should have been called on Iowa which would have given MN a fresh set of downs. Iowa still actually benefited from a missed call and ended up in a better situation than they should have been in.

Would the penalty be because they advanced the football after the invalid signal?

 

[GophersInIowa]

Would the penalty be because they advanced the football after the invalid signal?

They should have been called for leaping when trying to block the punt. They were called for it in a game against Nebraska in 2022.


You can see #7 do it.

 

[STPGopher]

They should have been called for leaping when trying to block the punt. They were called for it in a game against Nebraska in 2022.


You can see #7 do it. View attachment 32455

Thanks!

 

[Mulligan]

I love that this still haunts Hawkeye fans. I’m glad it played out the way it did.

I like the way you think.

 

[stocker08]

This is the point that Hawkeye fans (who still think they were ripped off) continue to ignore:

“What we didn’t do properly was the back judge, the person covering the return man, when he caught that ball, the whistle should have been blown dead, and the play was over,” Carollo said.

By rule it should have been blown dead when DeJean touched the ball.....yet it wasn't. Changes everything that happens afterwards.

I'm neither an Iowa nor a Minnesota fan so have no dog in this fight. But to me, it's a player safety issue. If the defender racing down the field has to decide in a split second whether the receiver waving his arm around is above the shoulder or not, the advice moving forward would always be nail the receiver, try to knock the ball out and worry about the call later. There should not be any gray area . That was a fair catch signal.

Part of the reason why the rule was put into play in the first place. Starts with the fair catch....put in place to protect the returner. Problem is that it was starting to be exploited. Returners waving their arms at a middling level (like DeJean was doing), defenders letting up because they think a fair catch had been called, just for the returner to take off with the ball. Do the gunners pull up? Or do they try to stake the returner the second he touches the ball? When the signal is being made the way DeJean was doing it, it's really hard to tell. Especially when these gunners are locked up....trying to get around blockers. Keeping complete focus on how high the returners arm goes is a silly thing to expect.

And again....watching the video....there was absolutely zero reason for DeJean to wave his back arm the way he was doing it. It wasn't meant to direct his teammates, as he was already pointing at the ball. And it certainly wasn't to help him "keep his balance". It was meant to trick the Gophers players. At that field position....a personal foul would have put Iowa right near FG range. Players 100% held up. Ioaw fans like to say "well then why did they try to tackle him?" Maybe because he grabbed the ball, took off running, and there was no whistle.

Ferentz, the ST coach, and DeJean had 100% planned that. No harm in trying if it gets blown dead. If it doesn't.....you just gave yourself a big advantage over a now flat footed defense. Ferentz not celebrating on the sideline was another giveaway. Just stood there with a shit eating grin afterwards....because he knew that they had pulled off a dishonest play. Couldn't have been happier when the officials made the correct call.

 

[restovich]

Invalid fair catch signal.

Play is dead.

Absolutely nailed the decision.

And the only people disputing this are delusional Iowa fans.

And yes, Ferentz has been known to try to 'push the rules" to gain an advantage.

For him to act agrieved (ACT being the proper word here) just shows what a d-bag he is.

 

[Taji34]

“I still think it wasn’t a fair catch,” DeJean said earlier this year while at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

Correct, but that's not what you were called for Mr. DeJean. You were called for an "invalid fair catch signal", which amounts to doing something akin to a fair catch signal, which may lead to the defense pulling off and not playing the ball to avoid a penalty for tackling a player who signaled a fair catch.

This rule was added to avoid teams trying to exploit this, and was retroactively called correctly.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Even DeJean’s comment in the article is “he doesn’t think it was a fair catch”.

Amazing that after all this time nobody has managed to explain to Cooper what was actually called.

Iowa fans will never get over it or accept any explanation. In their minds they got screwed and it doesn't matter what anyone says or how much proof there is that the call was correct.

And I for one love it that it still bothers them. That is awesome.

 

[Some Day...Maybe]

Hey Iowa, you lost to Minnesota in football in your home stadium. The horseshoe finally fell out of your asses. We know you have nothing else to look forward to and that's why you keep looking back. People don't feel sorry for you, they laugh at you.

 

[BigTenGuy]

. . .

And yes, Ferentz has been known to try to 'push the rules" to gain an advantage. . .

Please elaborate how "Ferentz has been known to try to 'push the rules' to gain an advantage." Known by who? Source? But apparently not known to the officials, with Iowa regularly being among the least penalized teams in the country, though not quite as least penalized as the Gophers have been in recent years.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Several Gophers obviously puleld up thinking it was a fair catch. By no means was this a technicality.

 

[Ski-U-Ham]

“I still think it wasn’t a fair catch,” DeJean said earlier this year while at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

He's right, it wasn't a fair catch. And I think it's hilarious that both he and Hawkeye fans still don't get it

 

[Word]

Please elaborate how "Ferentz has been known to try to 'push the rules' to gain an advantage." Known by who? Source? But apparently not known to the officials, with Iowa regularly being among the least penalized teams in the country, though not quite as least penalized as the Gophers have been in recent years.

You should change your name to Iowa Guy.