Watch: Extremely Dirty Hit Causes Coach To Freak Out on Sideline, Get Restrained by Staff
A cheap shot in Saturday’s Cincinnati-Temple game resulted in a player ejection and a coach explosion.
Early in the second quarter, the Owls were in possession of the ball and quarterback Anthony Russo tried a quick out route to receiver Branden Mack.
The ball was thrown behind Mack, and even though it fell to the ground, Cincinnati defender Michael Pitts either didn’t see it was incomplete or simply didn’t care.
With Mack defenseless, Pitts lowered his helmet and drove it right into the receiver’s chest.
https://twitter.com/barstooltweetss/status/1053693658191552512
Temple coach Geoff Collins was incensed not only because of the dirty hit but also because referees initially didn’t flag Pitts for targeting.
Collins had to be restrained by his coaches and players.
He was so demonstrative toward the referees that a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct was thrown on the Temple bench.
The refs then reviewed the play and confirmed what Collins saw live: The play was targeting and Pitts was ejected.
For the second time this season, #Bearcats DE Michael Pitts gets ejected on a targeting call, leading with the crown of his helmet. No penalty was called on the play, but after review, Pitts is sent off and flagged. Same thing happened early against UCLA.
— Justin Williams (@Williams_Justin) October 20, 2018
Since the play occurred in the first half, Pitts won’t be disciplined for next week’s game. If that play had occurred in the second half, he would have been forced to miss the first half of his team’s next game, against SMU, in addition to the rest of the Temple game.
With a penalty against Temple for unsportsmanlike conduct and a penalty against Cincinnati for targeting, the fouls offset, and we started right back where we began — which upset many people on social media.
So they don’t call targeting on a clear targeting call. Geoff Collins rightly gets mad at non call. GETS PENALTY for yelling. Offsetting penalties. NOW they CALL targeting on a non target play. These refs are atrocious. #CINvTEM #TempleTUFF luck
— Tom Weisenbach (@tweisenbach) October 20, 2018
Don't blame Geoff Collins one bit for going off on the refs and defending Branden Mack there.
— Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8) October 20, 2018
Collins got the laugh last, however.
Russo threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Wright in overtime and the Owls’ defense shut down the Bearcats to give Temple a 24-17 victory.
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