Not taking issue with your overall point (I know you are dug into a foxhole on that one.....and, hey, that kind of stuff is all subjective, and each of us is entitled to their POV......so long as they don't go full bore douchebag - which you are certainly not doing).
Anyway.....just wanted to take advantage of this part of your post to make a unrelated point:
"UW offensive line taking over in the trenches.." from the color guys in the booth"
Jesse Palmer and the LBer from UGA (can't remember his name)?
I made the mistake of watching a couple minutes of that game with the sound on. And just in that couple of minutes.....
Just to set the stage:
It was near the end of the first half, and there was a play (IIRC, a short pass completion). The USC ball carrier was trying to get forward for a first down (down to about the UW 10 yard line).
The ball carrier gets met by a tackler near the sidelines, and gets driven back and OOB. Now, the forward progress - where the official spotted the ball - occurred inbounds. FWIW, the spot was very close to a first down, and the officials stopped the clock for a measurement (he ended up a few inches short)
OK.....I think most of us know that when forward progress is stopped inbounds, the clock continues to run. I mean it typically only happens at least once in EVERY GAME. Not only that, but the official was thoughtful enough to open up the field mike, as the measurement was taking place, to let everyone know the "Forward progress occurred when the ball carrier was inbounds, and the clock would restart after the measurement".
Duh.
Jesse Palmer, and his co-hort then (even though it was explained by the Ref, as is most fans wouldn't know anyway) went on and on, as the replay was being run, about how the clock shouldn't be restarted because the ball carrier ended up out of bounds.
Duh
I am constantly ASTOUNDED at the displayed ignorance of guys who are PAID because they are supposed to have the expertise to provide "insight".......who don't even understand such basic stuff as the rules of the game.
This happens damn near every telecast. It really is astounding.
Anyway.....the point being.....justifying ANYTHING going on in a game by the commentary of the "experts in the booth" just ain't worth nuthin' (most of the time).
The number of guys who can actually manage to provide some insight is very small (FWIW, I think two PSUers are among the best around.......Blackledge and Ham).
Most of the rest? Nothing more than carnival barkers in nice suits. Any correlation between their "insights", and the actual play of the game, is - generally - purely coincidental.
