It seemed like Oregon had stopped Arizona when Tony Washington’s sack forced a fourth down field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter of a tie game Thursday night.
Not quite.
Just when it seemed like the Ducks had a victory over Arizona in hand, Washington’s celebratory bow drew a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and an automatic first down. The call was controversial, to say the least.
After Arizona went on to score the game-winning touchdown to go on to win, 31-24, Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich calmly questioned the call after the game.
“That’s not a very good time to make that play,” Helfrich admitted. “That penalty, it’s very open for interpretation. Got called twice for it and we’ll have a discussion about that.”
As the second-ranked team in the country playing at home against an unranked Arizona squad, Oregon probably shouldn’t have been in the situation they were in. But in a game with possible national title implications, this might have been the type of situation where the officials should’ve just kept the flags in their pockets.
Thumbnail photo via James Snook/USA TODAY Sports Images
