What
can I say about this game? It was amazing! The Rose Bowl this year, January
first, was the 65th annual game. This year pitched the Pacific 10
Conference Champions, the USC Trojans, against the Big Ten Conference
Champions, the Michigan Wolverines. Going into the game, Michigan entered with
a ten win and one loss record while the Trojans had eleven wins and one loss.
Unfortunately, Michigan had to play the game without their head coach Bo
Schembechler. Schembechler was hospitalized the previous day to the game due to
a heart attack. Hopefully he fully recovers and can return to coaching soon.
The Trojans were more fortunate being led by John Robinson, a coach who had won
two Rose Bowl games previously, one in 1976 and another in 1978. The final
score of the game ended up being 17-10 with a USC Trojans victory, making this
Robinson’s third Rose Bowl win. Two Rose Bowl Players of the game were given,
one to either team. The Trojan player was running back Charles White while the
Wolverine player was quarterbacking Rick Leach.
A bit of controversy actually
came out during the second quarter. On the Michigan three-yard line, Charles
White dove over the linemen into the end zone; however, he entered the end zone
without the ball. What exactly happened? Well, it appeared that White had
fumbled the ball on the one-yard line and the Wolverines recovered it. A Pac
Ten Official confirmed this call. A Big Ten Official who was signaling that the
play had resulted in a touchdown overturned this call. A mix of Pac Ten and Big
Ten Officials, a decision I hope they change in the next year, was refereeing
the Rose Bowl this year. This mix up of calls resulted in White’s run counting
as a touchdown, which would give the Trojans their victory by the end of the
game. Between other writers and myself, this touchdown is becoming well known
as the “Phantom Touchdown.”
While this one play did not cause the Wolverines to
lose the game, it certainly did not help them. The fact that the Wolverine’s
head coach was in the hospital almost certainly had some mental effect on the players,
which could have attributed to their loss. Granted, the mixing of two separate
division’s officials was not a good idea for this game. This is a game that
needs clear communication between referees and that cannot be done when they
bring in people from separate leagues. Next year will be interesting to watch,
but let’s hope the NFL finds a way to fix this problem.
I had never heard of the “Phantom Touchdown,” but what was that referee thinking exactly? That is a very controversial call indeed. I imagine more than one football fan was peeved that day.Even if I was a Trojan fan I would’ve been upset that the play was deemed a touchdown when it was not. In addition, I imagine that they had the mix of referees so that there would not be any favoritism shown by the referees between the Pacific 10 and the Big Ten champions. Regardless, you are right that that created miscommunication and confusion between the referees. Finally, your post left me wondering if the Wolverines’ coach was able to recover from his heart attack. It definitely was a blow to the team that he suffered a day before their big bowl game. - Adriana Garcia
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, he did recover from his heart attack, thankfully. But you're right, I would've been so upset at that game. That kind of inconsistency is ridiculous. It's just like this year with the refs on strike and the NFL brought in the replacement refs. They did a terrible job and made every game almost unwatchable. Hopefully this kind of trouble won't happen for a very long time.
DeleteI am not a big football fan, but this sounds like a pretty exciting game! I wonder how the players must feel to have been part of such a significant game in the history of football. The term “Phantom Touchdown” is very clever, and made me laugh. I do believe I have heard people use that term before on sports center or something. I wonder if the football coach feels guilty that he let his team down and that they lost. I know it was not his fault for getting sick and going to the hospital, but it must have been devastating to sit in a hospital and have his team get killed on the field.
ReplyDeleteEdward, I really liked how you wrote it from a reporters standpoint I thought that was a really good idea. Also it is crazy how Michigan and USC were good back then and even now they are always top contenders. Have they ever been in the rose bowl since then? That would really stink if I was a player for Michigan and my coach had a heart attack the day before, i feel like that would really bring the team hopes of winning down. But, at the same time it could be a motivator, you never know! I'm glad it was such a close game though it must have been really cool to watch back then.
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