You think that ref didn't mean to hit that kid from South Carolina the other night? Watch the play again. The actions of umpire Wilbur Hackett Jr. suggest to me that he knew exactly what he was doing. That's not to say that Hackett knew why he did what he did. I doubt that even he could tell you and, due to liable laws, I can't really address the subject without fear of a lawsuit. However, multiple viewings of the play have left me convinced that Hackett's hit, just like your parents little "surprise" some twenty-odd years ago, was indeed avoidable.
Here's the situation. With 2:17 left in the half and the scores tied 10-10, South Carolina is facing a 1st-and-goal from the LSU 8-yard line. A touchdown would whip the, already excited, South Carolina home crowd into a frenzy and give the Gamecocks the momentum headed into halftime. The 'Cock split two WRs wide right with a slot receiver to the left and the QB in the shotgun, right next to the RB. LSU is playing the run with five men on the line, backed by two LBs (They are key to the ensuing play), a DB jamming the slot receiver to the left and the rest of the secondary dropped back to the goal line.
Initially, the play appears to be a delayed QB draw to inside of the right tackle (far side of the field) but the QB decides there's nothing there and cuts back towards the left side of the line. The ref - actually an umpire but I'm going with ref out of laziness - starts the play almost exactly opposite the QB, five yards into the defensive backfield and directly behind the two LSU linebackers. Pause the YouTube video here and notice how the ref and LBs start the play in almost exactly the same stance. Side note: Our man, Hackett, played linebacker at Kentucky and, technically speaking, that means that he played for an SEC football program, technically speaking.
As the play begins, the linebackers identify the running lane and close in on the gap between the 'Cocks LT and LG. The ref, however, stays in the same spot and watches the play start to unfold. Once the QB sees the LBs coming in to close the gap, he cuts back to the left side of the line, heading for the near side of the field and a date with YouTube greatness.
Who knows exactly what the guy was thinking but as that quarterback pops out from behind the pile and into his view, the ref takes two quick side steps to the right, positioning himself directly in the way of the QB's intended path. I believe that this is the point at which the Ref says to himself, "Not sure why I just ran over here but, fuck it, since I did, I'm fixin' to hit this mother fucker." Apparently noticing the zebra in his way, the QB tries to cut back to the inside of the ref. But our man will have NONE OF THAT!
Like any good MLB, you can see that the ref is basically mirroring the ball carrier, in this case, the QB. So, as the 'Cocks' Slinger (that's short for The University of South Carolina's Quarter Back a.k.a. a gun slinger thus we get 'Cocks' Slinger) cuts to the inside, so does the ref. As they meet, the ref is clearly pushing off his right leg, directly towards the 'Cocks' Slinger, while raising up his right shoulder and upper arm into the QB. The QB is pushed backwards and to the left of the ref before being immediately tackled by LSU's safety, who is just then arriving to the ball.
Okay, so if you still don't believe that, for whatever reason, the ref tried to hit the 'Cocks' Slinger, that's okay, you're not alone. The SEC has said that they don't believe the Ref was trying to intentionally hit the kid. Of course, who would want to publicly admit that one of their employees had messed up in such an egregious way? Other than the government, obviously. Instead, an official from the SEC told ESPN's Joe Schad that the Ref was in the proper position and was merely trying to protect himself after the runner changed direction, and that's why he raised his arm.
Oh... So, why exactly did the runner change directions in the first place? And why did it have to happen so quickly that he ran into a man who's job it is to be observing the action on the field? Let me repeat that, this man's job, the reason he was on the field in the first place, is to watch the actions of the players closely in order to determine if they violate any rules. And there are a ton of rules. That's a bank's worth of attention to be paying. Yet, somehow, this man was so oblivious to what was going on that he ended up colliding with the ball carrier, the focus of all the action?
And how about the results of the hit? The QB is pushed backwards and, briefly, off the ground just before he is tackled. For his part, the ref doesn't even take a step back as the tackle is made, almost directly at his feet. He kind of does a little half turn but there's no real movement away from the collision. This implies that, during the collision, the bulk of the energy exchanged was from the refm moving to the QB. Or, in other words, at the moment of impact, the force of the ref's forward momentum was greater than the forward momentum of the QB.
But that doesn't make any sense, does it? How, exactly, does the guy thats running full steam ahead end up getting knocked over by the guy that was trying to avoid being hit? It's not like this was somebody the size of Doug Flutie running into Fat Albert Haynesworth. Sure, the ref is a little bit bigger than the QB but not the point that he could knock him backwards with out trying.
Watch the tape. As the QB (His name is Stephen Garcia. Again, laziness.) cuts back to the left, the closest LSU defender is at least two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The QB clearly has room to turn the corner for a gain of at least a few yards. We'll never know, but it certainly looks like he even had a shot at running it in for six. This is, of course, assuming that the referee standing in his way will move or, at the very least, not try to tackle him. What I'm trying to say is this, the only thing that could possibly force the 'Cocks' Slinger to suddenly change direction like he does, is the Ref. There's no one else there!
Finally, and most importantly, watch what Hackett does after the play. Here he is, an umpire on an SEC officiating crew. We're talking big time football. Practically everyone in the south, from Congressmen to garbage men, follows SEC football. On top of that, you've got ESPN, Sport Illustrated and the 24-hours media circus that is known as the internet, all paying attention to the game. And, yet, not only does Hackett clearly line up and hit a player, in a game he's officiating, but he then proceeds to stand almost directly over the QB and give him a Ray Lewisesque stare down. You can almost see him standing in the middle of a bunch of referees, pounding his chest and screaming, "We must protect this house!"
Seriously, I'd be willing to give Hackett, the SEC, Steve Spurrier (Really, Steve, as a Vols fan I hate you, but what the hell happened to you? If this had happened to one of your players at Florida, you would have been so furious you might have actually burst some blood vessels. Just sayin'.) and all the other idiots proclaiming his innocence, the benefit of the doubt if I hadn't seen the stare down. If you're a referee and you accidently knock over the ball carrier during a game, you at least look somewhat apologetic or embarrassed. You certainly don't stand over the player, eyeing him like a boxer waiting for his fallen opponent to stand back up and take another beating. Hell, even Ed Hochuli could tell you that.
