USC safety T.J. McDonald was suspended by the Pac-12 for the first half of the Trojans' game at Colorado for this hit on Stanford's Chris Owusu
In the wake of Saturday’s triple overtime loss to Stanford, USC Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin had a few things to say about the officiating, and on Monday, the Pac-12 slapped him with a $10,000 fine. The conference also levied a half-game suspension on USC safety T.J. McDonald, who was penalized late in the fourth quarter for a high hit on Stanford’s Chris Owusu.
Kiffin’s fine shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone; freedom of speech in this country isn’t quite as free for unhappy football coaches and players, whether they’re in the NCAA or NFL.
Immediately after the game, Kiffin said he was “disappointed” with the officials, who didn’t award him the timeout he wanted to use to stop the clock with :01 left. Replay clearly showed one of the sideline officials talking to Kiffin before the final play of regulation and appearing to agree with what the coach asked.
Kiffin said he wasn’t complaining, just stating the facts of the situation, which he should be allowed to do. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop at stating the facts. In a press conference on Sunday, he brought up the issue without being prompted by the media, and if he hadn’t stepped over the line of acceptable coach comments already, he certainly crossed it when he brought his 3-year-old son into the conversation, saying Knox Kiffin was better able to spot the ball on a questionable holding call.
The coach also questioned the personal foul call against McDonald, which might have brought additional scrutiny – and a suspension – to the play that it otherwise wouldn’t have had.
The penalty was one of the key instances that swung the game Stanford’s way. The Cardinal had 3rd & 6 and Luck’s pass to Owusu was incomplete, but the call against McDonald gave them another set of downs and excellent field position.
Admittedly, McDonald did hit Owusu high, which in this day and age always gets called. Fine. Anyone (except, apparently, the officials and those in the league office who reviewed it) could see that it was unintentional. Yes, it was a hard hit, but McDonald came in like a missile straight at his target. It was the target that moved, not McDonald.
Had Owusu stayed on his feet, it would’ve been a perfectly legal hit to the chest, just as it was intended. Because Owusu was already falling, though, when McDonald hit him, it was too high and drew a flag.
The penalty was unfortunate, because McDonald was not targeting a defenseless receiver. The suspension as a result of the play, though, seems a little like targeting a player because his coach ran his mouth about it.
Officially, McDonald was suspended because it was his fourth personal foul call of the year. He had three in the Arizona State game, and while at least one of those was very well-deserved, another was nearly the same play he was flagged for against Stanford – more a case of bad timing than a purposefully dangerous hit.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said: “In order to protect our student-athletes, it is imperative that we enforce these penalties for the safety of the game.”
If the Pac-12 was really that concerned about safety, why wasn’t McDonald suspended after his three-penalty game at Arizona State, when at least one of the fouls was blatant and deserved a flag? Why did the conference decide to lower the boom on him after a less flagrant offense that occurred a month later?
Maybe it was because the Pac-12 office watched the film and saw some violent intent a lot of other people missed and decided to send a message to T.J.
Or maybe it was because the conference wanted to send a message to Lane Kiffin, who complained about that penalty as well the others, that he needs to keep his players, and more importantly, himself, in line.
