Matt Millen
- Thread starter Antwill
- Start date
I thought he called a good game. He went on and on over Spielman and Wandale. Rightly so. I’m guessing he knows JD from his Lions time. He’s no Brock Huard but better than Beth Mowins.
In the past I've often not minded him, but tonight I couldn't stand him. Constant whining about a bunch of minor crap Nebraska supposedly got away with, completely ignoring numerous things Illinois could/should have been called for. Ed Cunningham was still way worse, but tonight at least, Millen was not great.
Seemed to me like he was very complimentary of some things Nebraska did and tried to do....
And yes...Nebraska got away with a block in the back that was waved off and a massive defensive holding. Nothing supposed about them. Those were the only things I saw him mention (I will say that I didn't watch all of the 4th)....
Or...are you one of those guys that thinks that any "bias" shown by an announcer actually has an outcome on the game, and that Nebraska never commits penalties.....
To be honest, I spend most of the time with the game muted. That has nothing to do with this particular crew, I do it pretty much all the time now. I can't stand the constant inane blather, and so often anymore, the commentators seem to be completely clueless about the rules, so I don't really care what they have to say on those matters, I know the rules better than them. Saying that, it seemed like anytime I unmuted the TV to see what was going on, he was whining about something Nebraska got away with. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but it certainly seemed like it to me.
And no... Nebraska DIDN'T "get away" with a block in the back. Read the rule.
The force of the initial contact was from the side, not the back, and is perfectly legal. Then there's this little tidbit under exceptions to the block in the back rule:
The force of the initial contact was legal, and then while blocking him, the defender turned toward the ball carrier, which then caused his back to be toward him. Not a block in the back.
What "massive defensive holding"? If you're referring to the play Matt Millen whined about, Lamar Jackson briefly grabbed his shoulder, didn't even really impede him. If that's "massive defensive holding" then refs let A LOT of "massive defensive holding" go.
Choosing between those 2 is like picking the ugliest girl at closing time. I'd rather just go home and run one off and get some sleep.SmokinWinking
1) I know what the rule is. The Husker broke contact, and then pushed him in the back. It was obvious to any neutral viewer.
2) The hold doesn't have to impede...it just has to be a hold....which he did, for several yards. Again...to any neutral viewer, it was obvious.
3) Yes...holds are missed all the time...even ones committed by Nebraska (or are you one of those fans that thinks they'd be 22x Defending National Champions if it weren't for biased announcers and bad officials' calls?).
4) I don't think Matt Millen whined about anything. He just had his heart replaced. I don't think a missed call during a game between 2 teams he likely cares even less about now than he did before his heart surgery is going to be the source of a "whine".
And lastly....he was very complimentary of things Nebraska did and was trying to do.
I've lived here for the better part of my life since 1997. I've watched many a game with Husker fans that think that if an announcer doesn't gush over how great Nebraska is for 3+ hours, they must be biased.
Last edited:
Yes. Of course a woman shouldn’t be calling football games. She should be in the kitchen making you a meal or pouring you a drink.
Oh, I hear you. Most of the current announcers NEVER stop blathering on forever....all through the damn game. That sounds like a good plan.....an excellent plan......turn down the volume to zero. I'll do that next time.
The waved off block in the back was the correct call. Don't watch the replay. Watch the whole play. Stoll never broke contact. The mistake was not having the conference among the officials and just picking up the flag. That's better than announcing it and having to reverse yourself. The holding call missed should have been called, yes. But from the angle I can see why the ref couldn't see it. They also missed the pi on us to end their last drive. Yes I will admit the misses against us. Now for the misses against Illinois. Targeting, the holding call against our tackle that fell down causing defender to trip (which is not a hold), which killed a drive, the incomplete pass that turned into a fumble even though the whistle blew. It was a sloppy game by the cornhuskers and not a stellar game by the zebras.
1) OK.....but I don't get why I shouldn't watch the replay? Isn't the replay the same play?
2) Agree on the defensive holding.....ref couldn't see it at that angle.
3) Targeting was missed. Agree on that as well.
4) Glad you seem to get that the team played a sloppy game, although I think more credit needs to be given to Illinois for causing some of the sloppiness...I just get tired of the whiners that call into the Husker Talk after the game and blame the officials for everything. Sorry if that got projected on you...
And...I'll admit that I'm not a Husker fan....but I live here, went to college here (not UNL, but in-state), and I have a lot of respect for the program as a whole (primarily history at this point....not a big fan of how Frost does things, and I don't mean Xs and Os)....hence my presence on here (much to the disgust of a few others).
B
Because on the replay the network played only shows the block in the back. If you can watch the game in replay or DVR, watch the actual play. Not the replay. In my opinion Stoll was blocking from the side and the defender gets by him and ultimately Stoll pushes the defender in the back. Which is legal as long as you had a block that initiated legally (meaning that you never disengaged the block- kept a hand on defender). That's how I saw it. It was borderline and I understand how a ref that saw the end would through the flag. However an official came in after the call was announced preliminarily and said "no way, I saw the whole thing and the block was legal".
No worries or offence taken.
I was going to add, the camera angles switched from sideline up, to more of an end zone/pylon angle. On the network review they only replayed the latter of the two
My first choice in listening to NU sports of any kind, is to try and get the Husker radio broadcast, if the audio is close to the TV plays. I think Greg Sharpe and Matt Davison do a good job. Trying to sync the radio and TV broadcast can be a challenge and sometimes not possible.
I love John Baylor for volleyball, Pavelka for MBB and Cotney for WBB.
I love John Baylor for volleyball, Pavelka for MBB and Cotney for WBB.
You seem to care.
I really didn’t mind him. My favorite was Mike Mayock because he knew so much.
I don't mind Millen. About once a quarter, though, he will latch onto one thing he notices and just hammer it into the ground.