[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
WAC: Officials
blew call at end
of SJSU gameThe crew will be suspended a game
for incorrectly ruling time ran out
on the Warriors’ 1-yard line
Players and officials can often take adversarial roles on the field, but the Western Athletic Conference's decision to suspend the crew that officiated last Saturday's Hawaii-San Jose State football game had at least one Warrior player siding with the men in the striped shirts.
"I feel that it's the wrong thing to do to the officials," UH safety Hyrum Peters said. "They were a bunch of great guys, real nice guys trying to make the right calls and trying to do their best. ... I feel bad for them."
The conference suspended the seven-member officiating crew yesterday following a review of the controversial closing seconds of the Warriors' 13-10 win in San Jose, Calif.
The suspensions were handed down after a tape of the game was reviewed by WAC commissioner Karl Benson and WAC supervisor of officials Jim Blackwood.
A statement issued by the WAC office stated several errors were made on the final play and the conference concluded that San Jose State should have been allowed to run one more play from the Hawaii 1-yard line with one second left.
The officiating crew, headed by referee Gene Semko, ruled that time had expired before San Jose State quarterback Scott Rislov spiked the ball to stop the clock according to the time kept on the field. However, the scoreboard showed there was one second left. Benson said the conference's policy is that the scoreboard clock is considered the official time.
Benson said the report submitted by the officials after the game cited the time on the field as the reason for ending the game.
"The officials have the authority to overrule the clock if an error has been made; in this case an error was not made so the official clock was correct," Benson said.
"The time is only kept on the field as a backup possibility. ... All I can say is the clock operator in the press box was correct. One second should have remained on the clock."
The officiating crew will be suspended for a game later this season and will not be considered for postseason assignments.
San Jose State officials sent videotape of the game and letter requesting that the conference review the game's final sequence to the WAC office on Monday, SJSU sports information director Lawrence Fan said. But Benson said he was already aware of the case.
"It was brought to my attention way before San Jose State brought it to my attention," Benson said. "Any controversial endings of a game are going to reach a level of review regardless of who informs me."
Hawaii coach June Jones didn't want to comment specifically on the matter, but was on the other end of an officiating controversy earlier this season. Pac-10 officials who worked in Hawaii's 61-32 loss to Southern California on Sept. 13 were given "downgrades" by the league for two blown calls that went against UH early in that game.
"We've been on the other side of many in five years, so they even out," Jones said.
The WAC's ruling does not affect the outcome of the game, which kept Hawaii in the hunt for the WAC title. Hawaii improved to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the WAC and kept pace with first-place Boise State (8-1, 4-0). If Hawaii wins at Nevada on Nov. 15 and Boise State continues to roll, the teams' Dec. 6 showdown at Aloha Stadium could determine the conference title.
San Jose State fell to 2-6 and 1-4 in the WAC.
"While we never will get the opportunity to finish the game with a play on fourth down-and-1 from the 1-yard line, I will continue using the game of football as a tool to teach our team about the positives and negatives of life," San Jose State head coach Fitz Hill said in a statement yesterday.
"Nevertheless, my heart aches for my team, especially my seniors, whose opportunity to advance to postseason play was eliminated by several officiating errors and not settled on the football field."
The controversial ending came as San Jose State was driving for the tying or winning score in the final seconds.
The Spartans had second-and-goal at the Hawaii 5 after calling their final timeout with 20 seconds left. Rislov threw a screen pass to tight end Courtney Anderson, who was tackled inches short of the goal line by Hawaii's Keani Alapa and David Gilmore.
Seconds continued to tick as the Spartans scrambled to the line of scrimmage. After Rislov tried to spike the ball on third down, the officials huddled and ruled that time had expired.
After the game, Semko issued a statement saying Rislov had tried to run the ball into the end zone before he spiked it.
Peters said he was aware of the clock situation amid the confusion and agreed with Semko's assertion. He added that San Jose State could have been called for a penalty on the play.
"As soon as you hike the ball you have to press whatever button to make the clock go off," Peters said. "As soon as he hiked the ball ... he tried to run it in and he backed up and spiked it, that's at least three seconds right there. By doing that, the clock was expired and it's a penalty on them for not setting up correctly."
