Shocking: Slive Decides Not To Suspend Bammer Player

[AUChizad]

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/57831/sec-decides-not-to-suspend-quinton-dial

SEC decides not to suspend Quinton Dial
December, 14, 2012

By Edward Aschoff

After further review, the SEC has decided not to punish Alabama defensive end Quinton Dial for his hit on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in this year's SEC championship game.

This means that the SEC has decided not to suspend Dial for Alabama's meeting with Notre Dame in the Discover BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7, but any action Alabama wants to take is fine with the league.

Here's the official statement from the SEC:

    “The Southeastern Conference has completed its review of video from the 2012 SEC Football Championship Game. Several plays involving both teams were reviewed. After review, all subsequent action will be handled internally by the two institutions and the conference office is satisfied with their actions.”


Really, the main play in question was Dial's nasty hit on what appeared to be a very defenseless Murray during an interception return by Alabama safety Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix in the first half. The hit appeared to be helmet-to-helmet, but no flag was thrown. Murray stumbled to his feet after the play, but later said that he only had the wind knocked out of him.

Earlier this month, SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told Al.com that Dial should have been penalized for his hit on Murray and that the officials "missed the call."

Here's a little of what Shaw told Al.com about reviewing the hit:

"By rule, you can't hit a defenseless player above the shoulders. What the determination needs to be is was this a defenseless player and was contact initiated above the shoulders? When we go through video review of it, that's what we'll have to determine. And then you as you break it down, did he lead with the head or lead with the shoulder? From game action, it was a personal foul regardless of how we break it down frame by frame."

This isn't the first time the league has had to deal with a hit like this. Ole Miss safety Trae Elston was suspended for the Texas game after he hit defenseless UTEP wide receiver Jordan Leslie the week prior. Like Dial, Elston wasn't flagged on the play.

The SEC ruled Elston's hit was in violation of Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA rulebook, which reads:

    "No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder."

Rule 9-1-3 also states:

    "No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet."

South Carolina safety D.J. Swearinger was also suspended by the SEC for a game for his hit on UAB's Patrick Hearn. Swearinger was actually flagged for the play because his helmet hit Hearn's face mask after he launched himself into Hearn.

But the league didn't suspend Vanderbilt's Andre Hal at the beginning of the season after he was flagged for launching into South Carolina tight end Justice Cunningham, causing Cunningham's helmet to fly off.

When it comes to this issue, it's all about consistency and I'm not sure the league is right now. Say what you will about Murray turning into a defender on the play, but he was as defenseless as ever when Dial laid that vicious hit on him. A flag should have been thrown. We saw consistency with Swearinger being suspended after Elston, but not with Dial's hit.

Just like the officials, the league missed this one.

[Buzz Killington]

Wait...let me pick my jaw off the floor.


I'm sure they decided it was justified retribution from that evil Georgia player that hit McTattoo almost an eighth of a second after he threw the ball a series before.

[RWS]

Murray says Dial never even hit his head, according to this interview right after the game:



I think he probably hit him in the face mask, which would still be considered head shot.  The head part was the only thing illegal about it, though.  The hit itself was legal, as the ball had been intercepted and was being ran back.  Dial can totally knock the shit out of Murray at that point.  That hit happened while the play was still live, and the ball had already been intercepted.  Should it have been flagged?  Probably.  I don't see where it warrants a suspension.  If so, then they have to suspend the UGA player who was flagged for hitting McCarron.  And the guy that poked Milliner in the eye.  Milliner got flagged for shoving the UGA player.  They didn't see the eye gouge.

[Snaggletiger]

Why don't we take one more look at it.  After looking at this numerous times, I know see where this the result of payments to Cam Newton and the thug culture at Awbren.

[Townhallsavoy]

Shocking.

But at least Bama won't be able to brag about winning national championships with their 2's. 

[oldautiger]

He only gets one scoop of ice cream, not two for at least a week (starting some day in the future)

[Yoda]

To be expected.  And yes it was an illegal hit, he led with his head.

[WiregrassTiger]

Shocking.

But at least Bama won't be able to brag about winning national championships with their 2's.

I laughed...and then paused to say shit.

[Pell City Tiger]

Having an alumnus as the head of officials for the conference is really beneficial. With all the other fouls that get ignored during the game, we really didn't expect something as trivial as a blatent cheap shot to get called, did we?

[RWS]

Having an alumnus as the head of officials for the conference is really beneficial. With all the other fouls that get ignored during the game, we really didn't expect something as trivial as a blatent cheap shot to get called, did we?

Why no outrage that the UGA guy that hit McCarron isn't getting a suspension?  Since apparently everybody that makes a helmet-to-helmet hit should be suspended.  Why no outrage over the guy who blatantly stuck his finger in Milliner's eye after the play was over?  Why shouldn't he be suspended?

Look, I was all about the notion that the Alabama player that suplexed the Missourri RB during that game should have been suspended.  Totally agreed with that.  No question about it.  But I just don't see where this warrants a suspension.  If you're going to suspend one player for a helmet-to-helmet hit during an otherwise legal tackle or block, then you have to suspend every single one.  And you definitely have to suspend the ones who do it in a roughing the passer type situation.  If this were a dead ball foul, then absolutely, suspend him.  No problems there. 

[AUownsU]

Why no outrage that the UGA guy that hit McCarron isn't getting a suspension?  Since apparently everybody that makes a helmet-to-helmet hit should be suspended.  Why no outrage over the guy who blatantly stuck his finger in Milliner's eye after the play was over?  Why shouldn't he be suspended?

Look, I was all about the notion that the Alabama player that suplexed the Missourri RB during that game should have been suspended.  Totally agreed with that.  No question about it.  But I just don't see where this warrants a suspension.  If you're going to suspend one player for a helmet-to-helmet hit during an otherwise legal tackle or block, then you have to suspend every single one.  And you definitely have to suspend the ones who do it in a roughing the passer type situation.  If this were a dead ball foul, then absolutely, suspend him.  No problems there.

[Vandy Vol]

[AUChizad]

Why no outrage that the UGA guy that hit McCarron isn't getting a suspension?  Since apparently everybody that makes a helmet-to-helmet hit should be suspended.  Why no outrage over the guy who blatantly stuck his finger in Milliner's eye after the play was over?  Why shouldn't he be suspended?

Look, I was all about the notion that the Alabama player that suplexed the Missourri RB during that game should have been suspended.  Totally agreed with that.  No question about it.  But I just don't see where this warrants a suspension.  If you're going to suspend one player for a helmet-to-helmet hit during an otherwise legal tackle or block, then you have to suspend every single one.  And you definitely have to suspend the ones who do it in a roughing the passer type situation.  If this were a dead ball foul, then absolutely, suspend him.  No problems there.

You're a tard.

http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2012/12/scarbinsky_6.html#incart_river

Scarbinsky: Hard to square SEC's different decisions on suspensions for hard hits
 By Kevin Scarbinsky
on December 15, 2012 at 9:22 AM

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - There’s one fly in Mike Slive’s ointment.

There’s one flaw in Steve Shaw’s argument.

There’s one reason beyond partisan emotion to question the SEC’s decision not to suspend Alabama defensive end Quinton Dial for the BCS Championship Game.

It’s the SEC’s decision to suspend Ole Miss safety Trae Elston for the Texas game.

Even though they came after two very different hits from two very different players in two very different situations, those decisions don’t square.

If Dial shouldn’t be suspended, Elston probably shouldn’t have been. Since Elston was suspended, Dial probably should be, too.

It’s hard to have it both ways in the name of player safety, especially since the hit Dial put on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in the SEC Championship Game was probably no more or less dangerous than the lick Elston laid on a UTEP receiver in September.

The inconsistency in the rulings has opened up the SEC to all kinds of charges, from protecting the school down the road to putting the pursuit of a seventh straight BCS championship above all else.

Since it’s so much easier to scream bias than to prove it or disprove it, let’s keep this argument on the field where it belongs. Let’s compare and contrast the hits and the results.

They have one thing in common. Neither hit drew a flag during the game, although Shaw, the SEC’s supervisor of officials, said two days after the SEC Championship Game that Dial should’ve been penalized for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness.

But every personal foul doesn’t merit a suspension, and every suspension doesn’t require a flag on the play in question.

See Elston, the 6-foot, 190-pound Ole Miss safety from Oxford. On Sept. 8, late in a victory over UTEP, he did what a safety is supposed to do. He saw a pass spiraling toward a receiver breaking open on a post pattern, and he arrived to break up the play.



The receiver spotted Elston at the last second - as Murray did Dial - and short-armed the ball. Elston put his shoulder in the receiver’s chest and knocked him flat. Unlike the Dial hit on Murray, there was no helmet-to-helmet contact.

No matter. The SEC suspended Elston for the next Ole Miss game. It was a big one, a rare home game against then-No. 14 Texas, but it was an exhibition compared to Alabama vs. Notre Dame.

Here was the SEC’s explanation on the Elston suspension: "The action is in violation of Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rule Book, which reads, 'No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder,' and Rule 9-1-3 which states, 'No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet.' ”

Fast forward to Dec. 1 in the Georgia Dome. Late in the first half, Alabama safety Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix intercepted a pass and began to run it back. Behind the pass but in front of the return, Dial spotted Murray about 6 yards away and made a beeline for him.

Murray, jogging in the general direction of Clinton-Dix’s path, didn’t see Dial until the instant before Dial hit him in the chest with a shoulder and on the lower left side of the helmet with Dial’s helmet. Murray, naturally, went down hard, but didn’t miss a snap the rest of the way.



Elston’s hit wasn’t helmet-to-helmet, and Dial’s was, but as Shaw said Friday, “it’s not just helmet-to-helmet” that determines a suspension because “helmets hit every play.”

“There’s two aspects that we really drill our officials on and that, by rule, are targeting fouls,” Shaw told the Smashmouth Radio Network on ESPN 973 The Zone in Birmingham. "One is when you have a defenseless player and you target them above the shoulder, whether it’s with your elbow, forearm, doesn’t matter. You can’t target them above the shoulders.

“Then, probably the one that is most concerning is (using) the crown of the helmet. When I say crown, I’m talking about the top end of the helmet, where you see a player come in and his last movement is lowering the head to deliver a blow.”

Watching the replays available on the Internet - which, in fairness, aren’t as clear as the ones available to the SEC - it doesn’t appear that Elston made contact with his helmet at all and it appears that the side of Dial’s helmet struck the side of Murray’s.

Shaw maintained that the nature of the two plays was very different, and he’s right. Elston was a defensive player taking down a potential receiver. Dial was a blocker wiping out a potential tackler.

That leads to a key question that figures into the decision to suspend a player. What exactly is a defenseless player?

Best I can tell, if you’re an offensive player going for the ball and you get hammered, there’s a chance you’ll be labeled defenseless. If you’re a defensive player going to the ball - and Murray became a defender when his pass was picked off - you have almost no chance.

Every one of these decisions is a judgment call, and the greater the stakes, the harsher the judgment afterward. Slive, who hasn’t commented on the Dial decision but should, given the stakes, and Shaw, who patiently tried to explain it, will never convince their critics that they did what they thought was right.

It’s not fair to say they care more about winning crystal footballs than protecting football players. But no one could make that case had they suspended Dial for the biggest game of the year.