ASU fan again.
The targeting non-call is getting overblown. Was it targeting? Yes. By the rules, it was. Was it a malicious hit? No. Your dude was trying to make a play. The refs were scared to make the call because targeting is a horrible fucking penalty in that there's no difference between incidental and maliciousness. As such, refs tend to be reluctant to call it in critical moments because it's such a nebulous thing and it means dude is out for half of the next game too. I think everyone knows it's an overly punitive penalty. It needs to be changed. If it's just 15 yards, that's called 100 times out of 100.
I'd have loved it if Shamari Simmons was able to play the whole game. First thing he did when he got back in was light your guy up and force a safety. Maybe we're not down so bad to start the game if we have our best defensive player.
I get the no call. Refs don't want to decide this game or the next game in the playoffs. Moreover, people act like it's a forgone conclusion that ASU would have won in regulation- Dillingham was only sort of joking when he asked for student tryouts for kicker during the season. There's no reason to be confident ASU was gonna win in regulation. In a perfect world, it's a 15 yard penalty with no implications for the next game.
ASU had you guys just about beat in OT anyway. Then they showed pressure twice in a row on 4th down. 1st time your boy jumped. Showed it again and Ewers made the right check and Dillingham openly said it was his mistake for not having the ability to check out of his all in blitz against max protect. ASU didn't disguise it well and got caught. Sucks. Thought we played well enough to win, but we've got a lot of dudes coming back.
There will always be shitty, weird fans, but most folk are more proud than anything else. We know we can hang with the big boys and there's a whole bunch of people coming back. Rest is just usual post loss bitterness.