- 5 minutes ago
The radio voice of the Miami Hurricanes Joe Zagacki joins the show to share his take on the controversial ending to the Miami Hurricanes - Notre Dame game.
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00:00All right, Joe, in your opinion, you were there,
00:03you've watched it a million times since.
00:04In your opinion, did Elijah Lofton get jobbed out of a touchdown
00:09on Saturday night?
00:11Yes, but I only go with my first instinct, Hawk.
00:14And my first instinct, you know, when you call it, you got to call it.
00:19And by the way, it happened in the Cleveland Gary End Zone,
00:22so that figures.
00:26I called touchdown, and then I said, no, they say he's out of bounds.
00:30It never occurred to me for the first couple of seconds
00:33that they ruled it incomplete.
00:36I thought they ruled him out of bounds because I thought, I said, he caught it.
00:41And then I said, no, out of bounds.
00:44So my first thought was, it's a touchdown, he caught it.
00:49Both feet are down.
00:52I look back at it.
00:53I listen to NBC.
00:56I don't know why they have those ex-referees on, by the way,
01:00as, you know, analysts, because they never disagree.
01:02The guy, Terry McCauley, said, he said, well, he didn't have it long enough.
01:06And I'm like, well, is there a stopwatch on it?
01:09Like one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi?
01:12And what was the difference between that catch?
01:16And Lofton had one in the third quarter, the beginning of the third quarter,
01:20where they karate chopped the ball out and Fletcher picked it up.
01:23That was a catch, but this one wasn't a catch.
01:27So I'm not surprised that he ruled it a non-catch, but I thought it was a catch.
01:34Was it the football move thing, Joe?
01:36Because we were saying that it's not the ref's calling.
01:40It's the rule of football move after a catch, where you have to complete the catch.
01:45Like I said, if Lofton falls out of bounds with the ball in his arm, it's a touchdown.
01:49But the fact that he dropped it is where it starts getting, you know, iffy on that decision.
01:55Well, I would say when I watched the replay at the stadium, I thought to myself,
02:00oh, I guess maybe, you know, there's something else here that he has to do.
02:05But in retrospect, I'm with Hawk.
02:07Like, he caught the ball, two hands, two feet down.
02:13He goes out of bounds.
02:14Isn't the play over?
02:15I mean, how far do you have to go before it's another step?
02:21I mean, like, the defender is allowed.
02:25Like, the out of bounds becomes not out of bounds anymore?
02:29I don't understand that.
02:30In basketball, Coach L and I were talking about this.
02:34If it's late in the game, you go up for a rebound.
02:37It's long in the baseline.
02:38The guy grabs it and calls timeout.
02:41He gets the ball and the timeout.
02:44I don't know.
02:45I think when you're out of bounds, I didn't know that the play continued once you're out of bounds.
02:51What's funny, Joe, what's funny is, like, the idea of the football move being the difference
02:58between that being a catch or not.
03:00I don't know.
03:00Joe, last time I checked, grabbing a ball at, you know, five feet above your head
03:06and making sure you have two feet in bounds sounds like a football move to me, Joe Zagacki.
03:12That sounds like a football move to me.
03:15I can't disagree with you.
03:17I don't.
03:17Like I said, my first instinct, I always go on a call that that first split second.
03:23What do you see?
03:24I saw a touchdown.
03:27And they said incomplete pass because he dropped it when he was out of bounds.
03:31But he caught it when he was in bounds.
03:34I don't understand the rationale behind it not being a catch.
03:38Maybe I don't understand the rule.
03:42I just think this.
03:44You could see that play 100 times and 99 times they're calling it a touchdown.
03:50That's what I think as well.
03:53It is weird because I understand the football move element of the rule.
03:58They've explained this for years now, right?
04:01The football move.
04:02But for me, whatever happens in bounds has to supersede anything that happened out of bounds.
04:11In fact, anything that happened out of bounds shouldn't count, period, end of story.
04:17So that's the real disconnect I have.
04:20If he was juggling the ball and then had it out of bounds, is it a catch?
04:25Oh, he caught the ball out of bounds.
04:27Touchdown.
04:28Right.
04:28It wouldn't count because he didn't have it in bounds.
04:32Yeah.
04:32It's really.
04:34He caught the ball in bounds.
04:36He went out of bounds.
04:38The defender then poked the ball out of his hands out of bounds.
04:43But isn't the defender supposed to do that in bounds?
04:47Right.
04:48If I'm Corey Heatherman, I'm telling the team for the Duke game and for every subsequent game,
04:53follow them to their bench.
04:55Wherever you see the ball, just keep following anyone because they'll overturn anything.
05:01The defender has the right to do anything he wants out of bounds.
05:06Again, is it one Mississippi?
05:08We're playing Mississippis again?
05:10Is that what we're doing?
05:11Of course, it falls under the umbrella of the ACC officials.
05:15And oh, by the way, Notre Dame's not in the ACC.
05:18Yeah, of course.
05:20Let's move to the tenor of the game.
05:23I thought, for all intents and purposes, without Malachi Toney, to go up to South Bend and face a very
05:32good Notre Dame team on the road in a hostile environment,
05:35I thought they played, especially the second half, pretty impressively.
05:39I thought the second half, obviously, they started to figure things out, figure it out in the passing game.
05:47They lost the game in the middle eights, where they usually excel.
05:52They allowed Notre Dame to score in the final four minutes of the second quarter.
05:57And then at the beginning of the third quarter, Miami flopped around.
06:01They get the ball to start the third quarter.
06:04Don't do anything with it.
06:05And then Notre Dame returns a punt inexcusably 50 yards on a punt that went over the head of the
06:13returner and then showed no resistance on defense and fell behind 24-3.
06:18At that point, they decided to step back into the ring and started swinging.
06:24And that's when Miami started playing much better football.
06:27I thought, overall, you know, this was going to be a trench warfare game.
06:33Notre Dame's built that way.
06:35Miami's built that way.
06:36And I would say Notre Dame won those battles more consistently than Miami did.
06:45I do think that as the game wore on, they figured out more and more about Barkate and Lawson and
06:52Mensa.
06:52I would say I think it was a third down play with about eight or ten minutes to go in
06:58the third quarter.
06:59And he backed up and threw a dart to Barkate on a slant, never took his eyes off him.
07:07It was almost as if he said, this is where we're going the rest of the game.
07:11And, in fact, I think from that point on, it was, I think, 12 straight, 13 straight completions, either Barkate
07:19or Lofton.
07:20It did take them a while to figure it out without Malachi.
07:23And you have to go backwards.
07:25Remember, when Malachi was deemed not able to play in this game, they were already past their Wednesday practice.
07:34There wasn't a whole lot they could do.
07:36They used Upshaw.
07:38Upshaw's not Malachi.
07:39Upshaw, I think, played every down.
07:42And, you know, I thought he did okay.
07:44I think the offense probably learned some things that will help them the rest of the way.
07:49But it was also, I don't want to say unforgivable.
07:54But when you're on the six-inch line and you're playing, you know, championship football, you've got to score a
07:59touchdown.
08:00You know, you're on the six-inch line.
08:02You've got to score a touchdown.
08:03If your pride enjoys the offensive line and power football on the road, six inches away, you've got to figure
08:09out how to get that ball in the end zone.
08:11Mark Fletcher's got 35 career rushing touchdowns and didn't get a chance to put it in there.
08:17In retrospect, easy for me to say it, you know, second-guess Hall of Fame, but you've got to score
08:24a touchdown.
08:25And, Joe, you talk about the middle eight, the second of the middle eight.
08:29Like, you came out and the Kings came out in the second half, and they were still trying to run
08:34the offensive plan.
08:36And then they got too far behind when they hit 24, and now they're down by three touchdowns.
08:39When they opened it up to let Darian Mensah just try to go win it, that's when the team, you
08:44know, caught on.
08:45I think if they would have came out of halftime just slinging the ball around in hell with this run,
08:49Mensah, go win us a game, that game would have been different.
08:52Did they take too long to get into the Darian Mensah, go be the Heisman candidate?
08:57Probably, probably in retrospect, yeah.
08:59I think, you know, you're put in a tough spot there.
09:02Your best player is out.
09:05And, I mean, not only your best player, this guy, he's out of the world, right?
09:09So, you're trying to figure out, well, do we just plug one guy in there and stick with our normal
09:14game plan?
09:15So, I would say yes.
09:17But also, I would point out, Channing, there were flashes of a good running game in the first half.
09:26With Fletcher, I think he ended up with over 50 yards, nearly 60.
09:30Miami's only team other than Navy that went over 100 running the football.
09:34What they could not do was sustain their drives.
09:37And what was particularly frustrating is I think there were one for six on third downs in the first half.
09:46And I want to say four of those six were four yards or less.
09:50And you go into that game at 52 percent.
09:54Converting on third down, you were doing your work pretty well on first and second down.
09:59When you're third and four or less on the road, you've got to convert those.
10:02And they didn't convert them.
10:04So, I think all those things put them in a spot where they were down 24-3.
10:10And kudos.
10:11They battled back, got some stops.
10:13More importantly, found some defense in the second half, got some stops.
10:18Because, you know, this defense, once it was 24-3, is almost, you'd almost say, unrecognizable compared to a year
10:28ago.
10:29They're really having trouble covering people and not getting enough pressure.
10:33And then, hopefully, they found some things maybe in the second half, maybe gain some confidence that will carry over
10:40in the final three games.
10:41What was the flight home like, Joe?
10:45Well, I'm going to tell you this, Hawk.
10:47Number one, we take two planes.
10:49So, the team goes first.
10:51So, I don't know what their flight was like.
10:54I know what my flight was like.
10:57The pilot said, we have two hours and 30 minutes to Miami.
11:02That's the last thing I heard.
11:06I was exhausted.
11:08Was it a great atmosphere Saturday night in South Bend?
11:12It was tremendous.
11:14It was tremendous.
11:15It was an exhausting week.
11:17And, you know, you get a lot of requests, but you want to put a lot into, you know, for
11:24me, you want to go into the game.
11:26You know it's going to be loud.
11:28And you're trying to capture the environment, trying to put people, want people to feel like they're sitting right next
11:35to me.
11:37And so, yeah, it was an exhausting game.
11:40They had a great atmosphere.
11:41There's no question about it.
11:42I thought Miami handled the atmosphere very well, to be quite honest with you.
11:46I thought their atmosphere was as good as anything that you would ever see.
11:51Everything that they wanted, great light show, fans fully engaged.
11:56I don't really think it bothered Miami that much.
11:58What bothered Miami was not winning enough battles in the trenches and not winning enough against C.J. Carr.
12:04And then getting to the passing game, probably Barkay too late.
12:08I will say this was kind of funny for me.
12:11Saturday morning, I got up early.
12:12I couldn't sleep.
12:13I went down into the team meal room, scrounged around for some coffee and a muffin or something.
12:21And Barkay was the only one in there.
12:24And he was as calm as could be, like nothing was going on.
12:28And I thought the entire world is talking about Malachi Tony and how Miami is going to fare without him.
12:35And the guy that's probably going to be the guy is Barkay.
12:38And he's sitting here like it's nothing.
12:40And I thought, look, he's going to have a damn good game.
12:42Well, eventually he did.
12:44So hopefully it bodes well for the next three.
12:47Josie, there's no way it was more exciting than what was his name?
12:50Trajan Banding picked off that Notre Dame game.
12:53Joe, that was the most exciting I've been in a long time out of football game.
12:57There was no way the energy was like that game.
13:04Well, their energy was pretty good at Channing.
13:06It wasn't as good as Hard Rock Stadium.
13:08It wasn't as good as Hard Rock.
13:10But listen, when you're on the other side of it, we're on the Miami side.
13:15Of course, it was a great celebration.
13:19But in South Bend, for them, they got what they wanted.
13:25They were fully engaged.
13:27And I don't know that Vic and I had the best elevator ride down with Oscar.
13:31We had a little – that wasn't quite as much fun as we've had in some places.
13:36You've got Victor around you.
13:38There's no worries.
13:39If Victor Bermudez is with you in a high-intensity situation, you are covered.
13:44Yeah, yeah, I felt better about it.
13:46But they were a little hostile, to say the least.
13:49At any rate, listen, they've got to win – I think if I do my math right –
13:54it's got a two-game lead in the ACC.
13:58And so if they win two out of the next three, they should be in the championship game.
14:02I think there's even a possibility if Wake loses on Saturday and Miami wins,
14:07they might clinch a spot.
14:09I'm not quite sure what that tiebreaker is because some play nine, some play eight.
14:14The question would be, if Miami wins their next three
14:18and stub their toe in the championship game, would they leave them out of the playoff?
14:22I don't think so.
14:24Yeah, I don't think so either.
14:25I think they've had too good a season for that to happen.
14:27So they just can't, as you say, stub their toe over the next three.
14:32That's the key.
14:36Well, they could.
14:37But they can't.
14:39And win the championship game, they could.
14:41Right, that's true.
14:42But just don't.
14:43Don't stub your toe.
14:44No, I'm with you.
14:45I agree with that, yes.
14:47No, there's no – I mean, look, it's Duke.
14:49Here come the Irish.
14:51Look at that.
14:52Ryan Clark is standing behind Crowder right now.
14:57He's singing the Irish fight song.
14:58Look at that.
14:59He's celebrating, Joe.
15:00I know his son was there last year.
15:03We need to go find Victor, Joe, because we're not going to win this fight without Vic.
15:08It's the exact same thing we heard on the elevator.
15:11You know what my retort was?
15:12How did you feel about last year?
15:16There you go, Joe.
15:17There you go.
15:18Have something to hold it.
15:20Then Vic goes, then Vic says, hey, how about BYU?
15:23How's that looking now?
15:25And then Vic opened up a syringe, gave himself an injection,
15:29and then proceeded to go Tasmanian devil on everyone in the elevator.
15:33He won't like me when I'm angry.
15:36The other thing is this with Notre Dame.
15:38They're beating their chest.
15:41Explain to me, other than Miami, who have they beaten this year?
15:46Like, who exactly have they beaten?
15:48The only thing I know about them is that they lost to BYU.
15:52That's the only memorable thing they did all season.
15:55Joe, that was the conversation.
15:57If they lost to Miami, they have no real wins on their whole schedule.
16:01Okay, so BYU has lost two of the last three.
16:05Now, Notre Dame, left for them is Boston College, SMU, and Syracuse.
16:13The only team that can beat them is SMU.
16:18And if they lose one of those games, they're out, right?
16:20They're going to be out?
16:21Or are they going to cry again?
16:23Notre Dame, man.
16:24They're out.
16:25Notre Dame.
16:25No, they're out.
16:26We say that, and you saw last year, they take their ball and go home.
16:31And college football cannot allow Notre Dame to take their ball and go home.
16:34They're out because the college football playoff had them ranked at 11 going into the game.
16:40So, that shows you where they believe Notre Dame was going to be ranked after losing to BYU if they
16:46didn't take down Miami.
16:47If they lose to Boston College, SMU, or Syracuse without a conference championship game, they're not making the college football
16:54playoff.
16:55Incorrect.
16:56Mark that sound, Jimmy.
16:57Yeah.
16:58Yeah.
16:59He's forgetting who we're talking about here.
17:01We're not talking about the...
17:02And they, quote-unquote, they knocked off the number one team in the nation.
17:06We're not talking about the Citadel.
17:07Without Malachi Toney, which the college football playoff has also shown you that they factor that in.
17:14Remember the FSU quarterback.
17:16They left them, FSU, out of the college football playoff because they were missing the quarterback.
17:21Because they were going to be missing somebody for the game.
17:24They didn't take into account that you take points off for beating someone without someone.
17:28Yes, they do.
17:29You're forgetting how the college football playoff community...
17:33You're forgetting how crooked college football is for Notre Dame.
17:36I mean, did you not see enough Saturday night to remind you that college football wants Notre Dame to win
17:42at all costs?
17:43Play out of bounds, Notre Dame.
17:45Go ahead, play out of bounds.
17:47We're getting you out of here with a W.
17:50By the way, real fast, you know who's coming to town this week, right?
17:56No.
17:58Manny Diaz.
18:00Oh, Duke, right?
18:01Yeah.
18:02We got Darian Mensah against Duke at that storyline.
18:06And I don't know, Crowder, have you seen this running back for Duke, Nate Shepard?
18:10He's a touchdown.
18:12Well put together, young man.
18:15Hey, Joe.
18:16Joe, that's ACC champion head coach Manny Diaz to you.
18:20That's right.
18:21That's right.
18:22Something we can only dream of.
18:27We'll see you, Joe.
18:29Have a good broadcast tonight.
18:31Okay.
18:32Don't forget, you can hear Joe tonight on this radio station.
18:35It's Canes Hoops and University of North Florida, UNF from Jacksonville is in town.
18:42So basketball pregame starts at 6.30 tonight.
18:45Game tips off at 7 p.m. from the Watsko Center in Coral Gables.
18:49Make sure you're listening.
18:50That was Joe Zagaki, voice of the Miami Hurricanes.