Time and change will surely show...
Rob Hammersmith
Saturday May 12, 2007
It was Buckeye coaches night at Nationwide Arena as the Columbus Destroyers (6-4) hosted the Grand Rapids Rampage (3-7) on Friday. Fans were treated to a question and answer session with present and past Ohio State football head coaches Jim Tressel, John Cooper, and Earl Bruce.
But it appeared that the game referees wanted to get into the Ohio State spirit as well. The Ohio State Alma Mater says “Time and change will surely show…” The game referees did their best to change this game with their management of time.
The Destroyers won the game 59-56, but the final score was far closer than the game ever was. With the Destroyers up 20-13 mid way through the 2nd quarter, it was the last time in the game that the Rampage had the ball with a chance to tie the game or take the lead.
The Destroyers dominated the game and coasted into the final score without much threat of losing. The Destroyers efforts built up a lead of 21 points in the fourth quarter, despite the efforts of the referees’ control of time.
For example, with less than 30 seconds left in the first half, the Rampage began a drive hoping to reduce the 34-16 Destroyers lead before half time. Play after play the official controlling the clock waited sometimes as long as 3 seconds before starting the clock after the Rampage snapped the ball.
With this help the Rampage were able to run a total of five timed downs in the half’s last 12 seconds (not including the un-timed plays that had penalties). This was just enough for the Rampage to put a last second touchdown on the board as the first half expired.
It got even worse in the last minute of the 2nd half. First, the officials announced at the one minute warning that the Destroyers had 1 timeout remaining, and the Rampage had 2.
Then on the Rampage’s first play from scrimmage, Rampage QB Chad Salisbury scrambled and was unable to find an open receiver, so he threw the ball out of bounds deep in the end zone. According to the time official, the amount of time it takes for a QB to drop back, look for a receiver, scramble, fail to find one, and heave the ball deep beyond the end zone is… 3 seconds. That’s right, there were 57 seconds on the clock after that first play following the one minute warning.
But it wasn’t just the time official honoring the “time and change” of the Ohio State Alma Mater. The Rampage called a third timeout after the one minute warning,... and the referees gave it to them. Numerous fans screamed “FOUR” in protest of the Rampage getting a fourth timeout as the refs announced they only had 2 left as the one minute warning began. Destroyers head coach Doug Kay protested with the officials to no avail.
The additional time and timeouts the refs gave Grand Rapids resulted in Salisbury throwing a career high 49 pass attempts. Yet even with additional time and additional timeouts, the Rampage were unable to make a threat to take the lead. Their last touchdown cut a 10 point lead to 3, but they were unable to convert the onside kick. The Destroyers were then able to then run out the clock to secure the win.
The Destroyers offense was clicking in this game, scoring a touchdown on their first 8 possessions. Their 9th possession resulted in a FG that put them up 59-42. That was the last time the Destroyers offense touch the ball until the last possession that was used to run out the clock, which means the Destroyers offense scored on every possession they had.
The Rampage cut the 59-42 lead down by scoring a TD, following it up with an on-side kick recovery, and converting the recovery into another TD. That cut the score down to 59-56. But it was not enough as the on-side kick failed.
Time and change will surely show… that you can’t trust the AFL officials. But at least their shortcomings didn’t cost a team win this time. There have been some games elsewhere in the AFL this year where they have. 2007 has been a really bad year for AFL officials.
