I think they are both hits out of bounds. About as similar of plays as you are going to see.
I agree, and, IMO, flags were warranted in both instances.
I do think the roughing call on us was far more critical than the lack of one against Clemson. My reasoning being, Clemson undoubtedly punts there to us on 3rd and 16-ish. Instead, they get a first down on our 30 and it completely shifts the MO. Shortly thereafter, we magnify the situation with yet another '
boneheaded' PF when their QB is completely down and then Wax pulls/tugs on his face mask. Bam, 21-16 and their crowd is back into it again.
On our non-call, Shrader goes out on our own 18. If the call is made, it places the ball on our own 33, first and ten. However, that being the case, based upon how anemic our offense had been to that point in the 2nd half, do we do anything with it other than run perhaps a couple of minutes or so off the game clock? Even if we run a few minutes more off there, time wasn't anywhere near critical essence yet. We punted, and shortly thereafter Shipley rips off the 50 yard TD run. The ensuing two point conversation makes it 24-21 Clemson with 11:26 left in the game.
There was still a boat load of time left in the game. The fact of the matter is, our offense continued to be anemic afterwards as well.
The bogus pass inference call came on 3rd and 11 from mid-field with 2:58 left in the game. If the call wasn't made, Clemson punts and our field position likely is no better than the 20 or so and some 2:50 left in the game with two time outs left. Now, up until this point in the entire second half we have been unable to move the ball at all. We had three, 3 and outs earlier in the second half. So, who knows what we do at this point. Is it possible that we suddenly move the ball when we've been unable to do anything at all in the 2nd half to this point? Yes, it's possible, but hardly a probability or certainty putting together multiple first downs, moving the ball some 50 yards (making it a 47 yard field goal attempt in that instance) and kicking the tying FG.
As it did play out, Clemson gets a first and ten on our 35 yard line. From there, they are only able to move the ball approximately 9 yards total, stopping them a yard short of the 1st on 3rd and 3 from the 28. There is 2:03 seconds left in the game, 4th and a yard or so. Rather inexplainable, Dino fails to call timeout until the 1:38 mark, allowing some 25 seconds to run off. The Clemson FG comes at the 1:33 mark making it 27-21.
On the following SU possession, we are able to move the ball for the first time the entire 2nd half. Clemson, on this drive played prevent D, as the only way to lose this game now is for us to score a game winning TD. The ensuing pick by Shrader and game over.
Based upon the aforementioned facts, it's my opinion, that we did not lose this game because of the refs. We lost this game based upon our complete failure to have any semblance of an offense in the 2nd half and failing to capitalize on those back to back 3rd Q Clemson turnovers where afterwards we had good field position. Again, just my opinion.
