My wife and I were driving to the Bay Area and were only able to listen to the first 3 quarters. We tuned into live stats with 1 second to go in the game and we shocked when we saw that the Aggies scored!

I saw some posts over on the AGS forum where they were saying that PSU got robbed and the final Aggie score was clearly not a TD. What happened? Was it a TD or did we just get a huge break from the refs?

It was really tough to tell one way or the other from the angles that we were given on TV. I don't know if PSU got "robbed", but I can certainly see how the call would be controversial.

Ags had the ball around the 8 yard line with 4 seconds remaining. Miles fired a pass to Hutton that falls incomplete with the score board showing 0:00 on the clock. PSU starts celebrating, but the refs determine there's actually 1 second left so 1 more play. Hastings rolls out to his right and gets the ball to Tompkins right at the goal line, but Trent is facing the field falling forward. It's called a TD on the field. PSU says ball never touched the goal line, it's reviewed and remains a TD. So like I said, were they screwed? I don't know...

Making it more nerve wracking - the Ags marched the length of the field (94-95 yards) in two minutes with one (?) timeout and included two interior runs (plays) early in the drive that chewed up time. The announcers remarked several times we were burning needed time.

Third-to-last play: around :12 mark MH rolled out a slow developing play which used 8 seconds (incomplete pass), which seemed to imply only one more play. Next at :04 was the quick incomplete pass to Hutton, clock reads :00, but the refs add one second.

Tough call. The referee who made the call was right there, so to reverse him requires overwhelming proof. The replay angle we saw wasn't optimum.

Tompkins sold the heck out of it. Well done.

In a day of what seemed like endless upsets across college football, the Aggies survived and got another road win. As fans we have to be thankful the rattlesnake didn't take a chunk out of our ankle, but what the hell was that effort yesterday?

The Aggies had a hugely productive offense in terms if yards (548) and first downs (38j. After being shut out in the first quarter they put together three consecutive drives in the second quarter that covered a total of 213 yards, ending in two touchdowns and a touchdown negated by a penalty as time expired.
Defense allowed 11 yards per pass attempt. This was the first game since Cal that they played a good veteran QB.

As fans we have to be thankful the rattlesnake didn't take a chunk out of our ankle, but what the hell was that effort yesterday? — AggieFinn

Frankly our DBs were covering like they were against Idaho. I mean, no one within 5-10 yards of the receivers on numerous plays. Just unacceptable even at our level of football. I'm not expecting perfect coverage, but you have to at least put yourself in position to cover.

I don’t know whats going on with our secondary but we’re getting torched. This #17 at poly can throw the long ball with good accuracy. This is not going to be easy.

PSU changed DC mid-season.

Here’s a great picture from Any Given Saturday.

That looks conclusively a TD to me.

Yes it does Riveraggie.

That’s Larison at midfield in the photo, not the TD play. @movielover had a good description. The incomplete pass to CJ was barely tipped which is why CJ didn’t catch it (although I think he thought he should have snagged it anyway - he is very sure-handed). The clock operator let the clock expire but as the tv announcer said the refs put 1 second back on the clock. I am not sure but I suspect in situations as this there is one ref who monitors the time.

Re: Tompkins catch - in real time it looked like the ball was out of the end zone, but Tompkins was coming back to the ball so his momentum in real time surely gave the appearance of no TD as he was moving away from the end zone. The rule is if any part of the ball touches the field side of the line with control it is immediately a touchdown. The local news video posted here used the phrase “crossed the plane” but again only one point of the ball need “touch” rather than “cross” the infinitesimally thin plane of points at the field side of the line.

The ref that made the TD call was positioned exactly on the goal line and only a few feet from the catch. So with that call on the field and camera angles that weren’t on the goal line and poorly positioned for a good review, the call on the field had to stand.

Now if either the 1 second put back call or the TD call had not eventuated, I don’t think anyone could have complained.

with the impressive offensive yardage figure, one would have guessed the Ags would have had 40 points or so. But both the yards and number of first downs are in part reflective of poor field position when starting drives. I think the Aggies must have one of the poorest total yards to points ratio in the nation. I’d be more worried if they couldn’t move the ball, and recently they have been getting better red zone success, but improvement is still needed without doubt.

My bad…sorry.

Is there a reason why Lan Larison appears to have difficulty running in between our offensive line this year?

Plough says they were surprised when Portland played differently than under previous co-DCs, and they were stymied. Then they had the dominant 2nd quarter, before being stymied until they started the last drive in the third quarter. They seem slow to react to changes.
Poor field position is partly due to the defense giving up 11 yards per attempt. I wonder what percent of games are won when a team averages 10+ yards every pass attempt.

Any reason why Lan switched his jersey from #3 to #24 at half?

his jersey got torn.

The first thing you think of is the offensive line. They lost Povey, Ford and Parks. Ford and Parks each missed games last year and Davis returned guys who started in their place. Povey was on the roster for fall camp and then changed his mind, They brought in two transfers who are playing guard and are starting a redshirt freshman at center, who saw no action last year, They have last years starting tackles.

It's complicated. If we run predictable first down LL between the tackles, LL dump off, we don't use a second back, Robbins is a season-long decoy, there are probably other tendencies, it's predictable. They load the box or tee off. Fischer is our future, and he's not getting touches. I do think Plough opened the playbook for Idaho, a solid move.

Nevertheless, 5-1 is sweet. We'll need to put together a complete game at the end of the year to be successful.

Thanks! As you might be able to tell, I’m a hard-hitting journalist by day, getting the meat of the story.

Writer John Canzano on Substack:

"The most troubling officiating performance of the weekend had to come at the end of the UC Davis-Portland State Big Sky Conference game. The Vikings were leading No. 8-ranked UC Davis 26-21 and seemingly won the game on a pass breakup in the end zone at the end of regulation.

"Until…

"The referee told the clock operator to put one second back on the clock, giving the Aggies an extra play. I was at the stadium and confused because I watched the ball hit the turf and noted the “0:00” on the clock. The play (and clock) isn’t blown dead until the ball lands, not when it hits the receiver’s hands and heads off. The scene merited a pause and a quick replay review to be sure it was correct. But that’s not what happened.

"UC Davis used the extra play to score a game-winning TD (called on the field) that didn’t look like a certain TD. The ball carrier appeared to be out of bounds before the ball reached the goal line. After a lengthy replay review, the referee announced the play stood as called. He announced the ball carrier had possession of the ball in the end zone. The official later informed PSU that there was not a conclusive replay angle available. So which was it?

"On my way to the parking lot after the game, I bumped into Dante Chachere, Portland State’s quarterback. He had a terrific game. Chachere was sitting outside the stadium on a curb with his parents. I stopped to talk to him. He had tears in his eyes."

You gotta feel for the PSU players. I’m sure that we would feel like we got a raw deal if PSU had beaten us in the same fashion but the Ags don’t make the the calls…the refs do…and the Ags just took advantage of it.

Someone over on AGS said something to the effect that the Bug Sky obviously wanted the Ags to win and they were probably speaking to the side judge through his ear piece to call Tompkin’s catch a TD. What a bunch of nonsense!

Ha, yeah Davis has so much pull in the Big Sky... that we rub elbows with the decision makers in-game and get what we want all the time.

tbh I’m not entirely sure the third to last play in first half wasn’t a td. Difficult to see if a knee was down, but to me it appeared the ball touched the end zone. Either way, we’re not playing like a top 10 team. 3 wins by a combined 6 points. We could’ve easily been 2-4. Glad we’re ending on top but making many mistakes and need to quickly clean them up- esp that passing defense stat of 11 yards per attempt and seems we’re not great vs mobile qbs

The ref that made the TD call was positioned exactly on the goal line and only a few feet from the catch. So with that call on the field and camera angles that weren’t on the goal line and poorly positioned for a good review, the call on the field had to stand. — NCagalum

Enough said. Case closed.

Question though....I'm still unclear on the rule.

If I stand in endzone with two feet in it, and stick my arms out over the goal line and catch the ball with the ball at the 1/2 yard line, do I have possession of the ball in the endzone?
Becasue I'm clearly in the endzone with possession of the ball.


To make things more confusing.....I can have one foot in the back of the endzone, and catch the ball outside the endzone, and I "have possession" in the endzone.

I could be completely wrong, but as I understand it, the ball has to cross the line at the front of the endzone, regardless of where the player's body is. That's why the ball can be out of the back or side of the endzone, as long as the player has a foot in the endzone. The ball has to enter that front line of the endzone, and the player has to be in bounds.