1965 Michigan State

I have to admit today that I don't get some of the reaction from Ole Miss after Saturday's loss.

Trut me, you should hear some of the phone message left for me at work. It's almost as if they want the rule to be changed or ignored because, well, because it didn't go their way.

In case you missed it, Alabama was up 27-24 when on fourth down, Ole Miss quarterback Seth Adams chucked a long pass to receiver Shay Hodge for appeared to be a 41-yard reception at the Alabama 4 with 7 seconds left.

However, the play was reviewed, and overruled. After looking at the play myself and taking to people in the know, here's what I wrote Monday:

Officials were essentially looking for three things:
· Did Hodge catch the ball? Yes.
· Did he step out of bounds before catching the ball? Yes. [Note: I had elsewhere that officials ruled he wasn't forced out of bounds] At this point, the play was essentially overruled. Now for the tricky part.
· Did the receiver touch the ball before the defender, junior Lionel Mitchell? This was important because a receiver who steps out-of-bounds may re-enter the field of play and make a play on a ball only if it’s touched first by a defender or official. In this case, replay officials decided it was all but impossible to determine who touched the ball first. The only way the call could have gone in Ole Miss’ favor was if replay showed Mitchell had clearly touched it before Hodge.

However, slowing down the replay, it appears that Hodge, who had his left shoulder over Mitchell’s right shoulder, did reach up and touch the ball first with his left hand. But is it conclusive? No. Incidentally, aided by Alabama’s time out, it took officials 5 minutes and 50 seconds to go through the entire process.

"I'm sick, but I have to deal with it," Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said. "There's nothing I can do about it. It's very, very unfair. This is not about me. It's about my team. We should've been allowed to play that last 7 seconds and let the best team win."

But they did they get the call right? Yes.

Ok, enough of that.

Under Daffy Daugherty, pictured here from the 1956 Rose Bowl, the Spartans were able to make strong claims for the national championship in both 1965 and 1966. The 1965 Spartans were 10-0-0 before a 14-12 loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl, and the 1966 team went 9-0-1, with the tie against Notre Dame. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.