Ohio State DC Jim Knowles disagrees with controversial call during win against Tennessee even though it was the right call
In the second quarter of the Tennessee Vols' 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Buckeyes pass rusher Kenyatta Jackson Jr was called for a roughing the passer penalty on UT quarterback Nico Iamaleava that wiped an interception off the board. Jackson drove Iamaleava into the ground after […]
In the second quarter of the Tennessee Vols' 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Buckeyes pass rusher Kenyatta Jackson Jr was called for a roughing the passer penalty on UT quarterback Nico Iamaleava that wiped an interception off the board.
Jackson drove Iamaleava into the ground after the pass left the Tennessee quarterback's hands.
Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles told reporters this week that he thought it was a clean hit on Iamaleava.
"He didn't do anything wrong," said Knowles. "We highlighted his effort. That's a really tough call, because you're into the quarterback, so it's one of those things that's like, ok, I'm into the quarterback — if he pulled the ball down and I landed on him, that wouldn't be a penalty….but release the ball and then it's a penalty? So it wasn't late. It wasn't dirty. It was clean in my eyes."
It definitely wasn't a dirty play by Jackson, but it was still a penalty based on the rule. According to the rule, roughing the passer should be called when a defender is "Forcibly driving the passer to the ground and landing on the passer with action that punishes the player".
20 years ago, that's not a penalty. And I'm sure there are plenty of folks who think it still shouldn't be a penalty. I certainly understand that take. But according to the rule, it's a penalty.
Tennessee, in fact, was called for a similar penalty against Vanderbilt in the regular season finale.
The roughing the passer by Vols edge rusher Joshua Josephs on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia looked a little worse than Jackson's roughing the passer on Iamaleava. But Jackson actually landed with more of his body weight on Iamaleava than Josephs did on Pavia.
So whether Knowles or fans like it or not, it was the right call.
And ultimately, it had no real impact on the outcome of the game.
Tennessee Vols are flirting with a potentially disastrous situation and they need to fix it immediately
Not a great situation for the Vols
