Yes. They did swat the ball upfield, and yes, that is illegal and should have been called.
They also were only penalized once, and it was declined, so they went without any penalties.
Also, Brian Robiskie's catch was overrturned, which was an awful decision on a crucial first down. You tell me how I can sit and watch the game on a big HD tv in my living room with 10 people (me being the only OSU fan) and 8 of the 10 say it was a catch, and yet, somehow it is indisputable evidence that it was not a catch. The reply official was just giving his opinion, which is not what his job entails. It has to be indisputable since it was ruled a catch on the field, and it clearly was disputed by many who saw the game in HD.
Finally, Beanie Wells clearly had the 1st down on the play before Pryor's fumble. Watch it again. It wasn't even close. It should have been 1st down and 10.
Take Joe Pa being old and close to retirement and all of the above into consideration while reading this......
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122444782078148231.html?mod=yahoo_buzz * Need a Real Sponsor here
* SPORTS
* OCTOBER 20, 2008
Ohio State's Loss Would Be Big Ten's Gain
Why the League Would Benefit From a Penn State Win Over the Buckeyes
By DARREN EVERSON
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(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
It's been a long-running joke that the 11-member Big Ten Conference can't count. But in football these days, there's really only one Big Ten team that matters anyway.
[Terrelle Pryor] Getty Images
If Big Ten teams fail to stop stellar Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor during his freshman season, when will they?
There's a lot at stake Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, when Penn State meets Ohio State. This isn't just this season's de facto Big Ten title game. This will reveal whether, for the first time in the conference's history, this has truly become a one-team league.
Ohio State has won two straight undisputed Big Ten titles. No league team has ever won three. The Buckeyes also won in 2005, but shared that title with the Nittany Lions, who won the head-to-head meeting. If the 10th-ranked Buckeyes get by No. 3 Penn State, a few potential land mines remain – at Northwestern, at Illinois – but no games where Ohio State won't be the clear favorite. And from there, of course, phenom quarterback Terrelle Pryor has three more years of eligibility remaining. So if anyone is going to stop the Buckeyes – anyone in the Big Ten, anyway – it may have to be now.
It's in the league's best interest that Penn State does, and not simply because the undefeated Nittany Lions have the better shot at reaching the national-title game.
Leagues ruled by a sole superpower generally aren't good leagues. Having one powerhouse that pushes around the pack is bad for a conference's image, and maybe even for business. Take the Atlantic Coast and Big East conferences, which, for a large stretch of recent history, were respectively dominated by Florida State and Miami. The Seminoles won 12 ACC titles in the 14 seasons from 1992 to 2005. The Hurricanes, who moved to the ACC for the 2004 season, lost one Big East game in its final four seasons of membership.
The ACC and Big East haven't just been the least respected of the major conferences in the public's view. They've also gotten the least respect from the lucrative Bowl Championship Series. The ACC and Big East have received 10 BCS bids each, the fewest of the six big conferences since the system went into use for the 1998 season.
The deficit isn't due to title-game appearances. The ACC and Big East each have made three, one fewer than the Southeastern Conference. It's the at-large bids that those leagues have failed to get. Neither conference has ever had one. The Big Ten (17 total bids), SEC (15) and Big 12 (14) keep snapping up the extra bids, which are projected to be worth roughly $4.5 million this season. That wealth spreads around to all league members.
While Miami and Florida State have declined, Southern California has turned the Pac-10 into a unipolar league. As USC has won or shared six straight league titles, the conference hasn't received an at-large BCS bid since the 2002 season.
[Penn State's Jared Odrick takes down Michigan quarterback Nick Sheridan for a safety.] Getty Images
Coming off its manhandling of Michigan, Penn State appears to be the only Big Ten team capable of shutting the Buckeye juggernaut down.
An advantage the Big Ten enjoys, of course, is the widespread popularity of its teams. But eventually, continued lackluster play by everyone besides the Buckeyes may erode the conference's standing.
Consider: Michigan State and Minnesota may well fill the Big Ten's Capital One and Outback Bowl slots this season on New Year's Day. This likely happens if Penn State and Ohio State both receive BCS bids, which probably would happen if the Buckeyes prevailed Saturday. If PSU and OSU then win out and go BCS, the Capital One and Outback would both remain open. Ohio State has already made minced meat out of Michigan State and Minnesota this season. Neither has beaten any team of significant standing. But with Michigan and Wisconsin suffering down seasons and Illinois and Iowa already toting three losses, the Spartans and Golden Gophers look like the best of the rest.
This would represent great news for the success-starved fanbases of those schools. Michigan State hasn't played New Year's Day since the 1999 season, Minnesota not since calendar-year 1962. But it might hurt the league. What's actually going to happen in those bowl games, both of which will be against upper-echelon teams from the Southeastern Conference? If Minnesota was an underdog against Bowling Green earlier this year, what would the point spread be between the Gophers and LSU, the defending national champion?
The Big Ten has had weak depth before – hence the old "Big Two, Little Eight" jokes of the 1970s – but rarely has it been so dominated by one team. It would do the league some good if Penn State proved there's more to the Big Ten than Ohio State.
Write to Darren Everson at
[email protected]Corrections & Amplifications:
A second Bowl Championship Series berth for one conference guarantees roughly a $4.5 million payout. This article incorrectly states that number to be $17.5 million, which is the payout for the first BCS berth.
