Does Michael Dyer Look Down To You?

One controversial play came out of Auburn’s BCS championship win over Oregon last night, and it was that fourth quarter run from Auburn running back Stephen Dyer. Dyer’s roll-and-run over an Oregon defender looked eerily similar to that of Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams in last week’s Sugar Bowl.

In both instances, the runner appeared to be down while rolling over the top of the defender, but instead got up and kept running. You can see where Williams and Dyer each had his wrist touch the ground at one point during the run. The guys at Mocksession put together a great video for it, which we have for you after the jump.

People want to act like there was some precedent with the D.J. Williams run, but there really wasn’t. The Sugar Bowl used an ACC officiating crew, while the BCS title game was a Big Ten crew. That’s not to say that the Big Ten crew simply blew it (I actually thought he was down; official review from the booth was inconclusive). But this, to me, really exposes the fact that college football is not a national sport.

What little power that the BCS does have comes from the conferences that are really more interested in cashing checks than putting together a competent national pool of officials where rules and points of emphasis can be enforced consistently. Is the wrist considered to be part of the hand, as it is in basketball? Each of the six BCS conferences could tell you six different things.

It’s also an issue that will have to be ironed out to some extent if the FBS ever decides to adopt a postseason tournament. So they’d better get on that, because never is right around the corner.

×