Rehashing Marvin Harrison Jr. no-call in Peach Bowl, Buckeyes to watch in camp
COLUMBUS — The opening of Ohio State’s 2023 preseason camp is upon us, so The Tim May Show does a belly-buster into the pool with the help of Lettermen Row reporter Andy Backstrom on some players to keep an eye as the progress continues toward the season opener Sept. 2 at Indiana.
Also in this episode I include a conversation with Big Ten coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo on the league’s move to an overseeing replay review center this season – sort of a remote eye over the stadium eye in the replay process – intended more to streamline the review process rather than add more clutter.
Oh, and of course I used the opportunity to gain a clearer retrospective on what happened in the Ohio State-Georgia College Football Playoff semifinal. Specifically, his take on the high hit against Marvin Harrison Jr. in the back of the end zone from which Harrison was knocked out momentarily and had to leave the game for good, for which a flag was thrown the Georgia player was flagged for targeting, about which the replay officials deemed it was not targeting and thus the call was nullified.
Instead of gaining a first down and setting the Buckeyes up for a possible touchdown that would have pushed the advantage to three scores with a quarter to go, they had to settle for a field goal that gave them 38-24 lead. Georgia, as you known, rallied for a 42-41 victory.
But back to the way hit on Harrison was handled …
“The ideal call would have been a personal foul with targeting,” Carollo said.
That meant even if the replay officials had waved off the targeting, the personal foul – he was hit high in the head and neck area, obviously – would have stood.
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Carollo said he has had conversations with Ohio State coach Ryan Day about it. There is no way to go back and fix what happened in that game, but moving forward, a similar situation probably should bring that double call.
As for the conversation with Backstrom, he and I offered one player each we think will create some buzz by the end of each of the four weeks progressively in the Ohio State preseason camp. For example, he went with Davison Igbinosun, the cornerback transfer from Ole Miss, for the first week, believing he could rise to first team early in camp.
I went with safety Sonny Styles, who I think by his play will hasten a more defined role for him right off the bat, based on the way spring drills progressed for the now sophomore. I would have named linebacker C.J. Hicks, too, but again, it was one player at a time, one week at a time. Both of those five stars will see major action this season, though.
Remember, not only is The Tim May Show available on the Lettermen Row Youtube channel, it’s also available in audio version on your favorite podcast site.
