Before i get into what i was listening to today on sports talk radio in Baltimore i want to give a little back story of what i witnessed with this game vs Notre Dame.
I was attending a party with some friends and they had the game on. Although at that time was not a college sports fan living in Colorado i naturally was going to pull for them to win. I had heard about the 5 downs vs Missouri during the season but it didnt sway me none. Long story short, as the game got near the end all the talk was of course about Rocket Ishmail and is punt return ability.
When Rocket started taking it back i got a huge pit in my stomach until i saw there was a flag. Of course, the rest is history there as the Buffs would go on to win the national championship.
Fast forward to this morning listening to the local sports channel the guest they had on (apparently a guy who also covers Denver sports) and they began talking about Deon Sanders and the Buffs. But one of the DJ's mentioned if they guest had heard about the official who ended up throwing the flag on the punt return and how he was snubbed before the game when trying to get an autograph from Ishmail.
Apparently the ref had begged and begged for Rocket to give him one but i dont think that he did if i recall the conversation i was hearing right then and there. But guest commentator had not heard that story before but the DJ said that it was indeed a fact and of course the other DJ was like "ooooooh, controversy" as if the flag was some sort of retaliation for the autograph snub.
Never the less, i tried looking up any information on it and cant find anything in reference to that story or even Ishmail mentioning it. Since i wasnt the biggest college fan back then do you guys recall anything of the sorts ever coming up?
Here is the play for those that never witnessed it. Great return by Rocket but i was really glad that CU won. The other interesting thing that i never knew about that team was that Vance Joseph (yes that one) was a backup QB on that team. I knew about Williams, Bieniemy, and Pritchard but didnt know about Chad Brown and Joseph being on that team. Thats pretty wild.
FTR- I think it is definitely a penalty but its still controversial to this day but the "supposed" added information regarding the ref and Ishmael is interesting none the less.