The Big 12 definitely doesn’t want it going down labeled the last act of kindness for a good man – outgoing Iowa State coach Dan McCarney – but that’s sure what a holding call late in Iowa State’s win over Missouri appeared to be.
Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
On Monday’s Big 12 teleconference, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said he received an apology from Walt Anderson, the Big 12 head of referees, for a call the coach said cost Missouri a win over the Cyclones.
The scenario goes like this: With 26 seconds left in the game and on fourth down on the Iowa State 1-yard line, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel dived in for a go-ahead touchdown. But it was called back because of a holding penalty. Daniel was sacked on the next play, time ran out, and Iowa State won 21-16.
According to Pinkel, Anderson explained to him “they clearly made a mistake on the last play where Chase Daniel scored. He said to me, ‘We blew it. If you call that, you have to call it 40 times a game.”‘
And with that, Pinkel took off and ran with a call that actually was a hold, but one that doesn’t necessarily get called 100 out of 100 times every game.
“My football team had a great come-from-behind victory,” he said. “You’ve got to give them credit, but we held them in the fourth quarter, forced a bad field goal, and drove 80 yards and won the game. And the victory was taken away from them.”
The sad part is there was no ownership taken on what happened in the previous 57 minutes to put Missouri in desperation mode. And that tarnishes everyone involved and makes it seem as if Iowa State somehow got over on the system and won when it shouldn’t have. And that’s not true.
The NBA doesn’t call traveling 100 percent of the time, but there still is a lot of traveling going on. Fouls are committed on every level of every sport and they aren’t whistled every time. Some that do are picky. And isn’t the general consensus in football that there is some sort of holding on nearly every play anyway? Some get called. Some don’t.
That one did. It isn’t a grand conspiracy. And yes, the Iowa State linebacker did get held. It might have been picky, but Missouri has more problems than a late-game call. The Tigers were once a 6-1, top-25 team that is 7-4.
Who’s asking for an explanation on that?
Footnotes
Rivalry games will decide the Big 12 South champion. Texas can clinch with a win over Texas A&M, and Oklahoma can clinch with a Texas loss and a win over Oklahoma State. … At Colorado, coach Dan Hawkins said center Mark Fenton will start at Nebraska this week, and punter Matt DiLallo will hold on to his job as starter.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
