Referee Tackling a Player Much A'do About Nothing

It may seem like the line umpire took dead aim at a South Carolina ball carrier during a Southeast Conference football game this past weekend but a close review of the video of the play, viewed from a ground level angle clearly shows the referee doesn't deserve a flag on the play.

In a game played last Saturday October 18, 2008, which pitted Louisiana State University against the Gamecocks of South Carolina, a Gamecock running play turned into instant controvery when quarterback (Stephen Garcia) with the ball darted for an opening on the right side of Louisiana State's line. It appeared that line umpire Wilbur Hackett, Jr. knocked the quarterback off his feet by by throwing his entire right shoulder into the ball carrier sending him to the turf. The play, with all it's various angles can be watched at www.youtube.com/watch. The short answer is that yes, that's exactly what the line umpire did. The issue is why did it happen?

The video is burning through the internet like a comet with sea of viewer comments trailing the video ranging from disbelief to outrage. Nobody is taking the umpire's side. But they should.

The line umpire was clearly caught out of position on the play and could be faulted for that. But it's apparent that the umpire anticipated that the ballcarrier was going to attempt to cut his run back towards the middle, (and run directly into him), to avoid Louisiana State's cornerback, #27, who was closing down from the right trying to force the runner back inside. And it's a reasonable conclusionn for the umpire to make in that situation. The umpire raised his right elbow and braced for what he thought was the ineveitable contact. Actually, he more than braced for the contact, he threw his right shoulder and elbow out away from his body which would have minimized the force of the ball carrier's blow to the umpire's torso. This is also a reasonable defensive measure given what he thought was coming..

Unfortunately, and you can see this on the video, the ball carrier at the very last instant decides against cutting back, probably becuase the umpire is impeding his path, and veers slightly to the left at the last instant. It was too late for the umpire to catch himself.

What seems to be an incriminating video is only a demonstration of what happens when a 60-something football umpire (Wilbur Hackett played linebacker for the University of Kentucky 1968-1970 tries in his own way to minimize the damage to himself when he thinks he's about to be run over. He has the reaction speed of a 60-something year old and it was this reaction speed or lack of it that caused the referee to appear to intentionally bring down a Gamecock runner.

It's much to do about nothing and the S.E.C. after carefull review of the films and the incident is a sophisticated enough body to recognize the mishap and what caused it. Some media and the fans will disagree, but the S.E.C. has rightly cleared Hackett, Jr.

"Garcia changes his direction just a tad, which ties up the umpire just a tad and makes it look a lot worse than it really was." Charles Bloom an S.E.C. spokesman told the AP on October 22.