ITKLast night the Ray Rice-less Baltimore Ravens defeated Ben Roethlisberger’s Pittsburgh Steelers 26-6. Bama’s C.J. Mosley had a great game, forcing and recovering a fumble while recording 4 solo tackles and five more assists.

But talk among football fans today is the hit former Bama star Courtney Upshaw planted on Big Ben. Upshaw sacked Roethlisberger in what looked like a textbook football play, but was called for roughing the passer.

Replay shows he didn’t lead with the helmet, or go for the Steeler quarterback’s head, yet was flagged.

In this day of feminization in our country, what is the game of football coming to? Rather than physical play, those in charge are allowing the game we love to be changed into a game of two hand touch. We likely won’t be able to recognize the game in another ten years. The next thing you know offenses will be allowed to employ a suck-punch philosophy, snapping the ball before the defense (or officials) has a chance to get in place. You know, like a bunch of sissies. Oh wait…


(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

21 thoughts on “Was Courtney Upshaw’s sack on Big Ben illegal? You decide.”

  1. Sissies who employ a legalized pussified brand of football ( at the moment, until the changes coming this offseason), yes.

    1. Sorry to burst your bubble yet again sir, but the brand of football you see on the field right now, you know, the up tempo high scoring offenses? Yeah that brand is selling out stadiums and it’s also making universities alot of money so it’s going now where.

      1. Didn’t even sell all of Auburn’s season tickets though. How strange, especially after just last year playing in the national title game.

  2. Oh and don’t say it’s cheating fellas. Cause it is not. Its within the rules so that argument goes out the window. Also Bama’s stats during the WV game show that when you guys ran an up tempo offense you gained more yards and scored more. So there’s that. Talk amongst yourselves.

    1. That’s the point, isn’t it? You want the hurry up no huddle no substation offense to be allowed, and thanks to a side effect of the 2008 rule change it is and all without adding an official to help substantiate the speed, but you didn’t stop to think what would happen if everyone else had to adopt the same thing. Be careful what you wish for.

  3. Doesn’t bother me if every football team does it. I am not opposed to it. Even the NFL is using it now and people love it. Bama can use it and does and they run it very well!

    1. WHOA.

      No, no. The NFL is most certainly not using the hurry up no huddle no substation rules. Absolutely not. In fact, the NFL was publicly very deliberate about the refs dictating the pace of the game. It may be faster paced, but no, it’s absolutely not the same. You don’t see NFL teams hurry up to the ball only to stand there like meerkats and stare at Pokemon cards on the sidelines. Silly rat.

      1. You are 100% correct. The NFL rules that you see now, where the officials dictate the pace of the game, not the teams themselves, is what you will see in college beginning next year. NFL rules always make their way in to college, because they always make the most sense…decided by billion dollar corporations called NFL franchises where winning is the bottom line.

        1. BTW, I say this because this upcoming offseason is a rule change year, where rules can be changed for ANY reason. Last offseason was not; any changes made had to be done only in the interest of player safety.

          So enjoy the sucker-punch offense called the HUNH for one more season, barners. If you don’t win it all this year (which you won’t), your chances are going out the window. Because your hack, high school coach can’t compete in straight-up, man-up football. He has to employ gimmicks…gimmicks that will soon be regulated like crazy by rules that make total and complete sense.

  4. You can not make contact with the crown of the helmet. This rule was passed during the off-season. It is much debate but it was voted on with a 31-1 win for the rule.

    “The first rule change prohibits a runner or tackler from initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet outside the tackle box,” the video’s narrator says. “There are three components to this foul: First, the player must line up his opponent. Second, he must lower his head. And third, he must deliver a forcible blow with the crown of his helmet to any part of his opponent’s body. The crown is the very top of the helmet. This rule was designed not only to protect the player receiving the blow, but also the player delivering it. Violations of this rule will result in 15-yard penalties for unnecessary roughness, and potential discipline. If the contact occurs in the tackle box, or if all three components are not present, there is no foul.”

    1. It sure looked like the hit was made inside the tackle box. In fact, it appears Roethlisberger actually stepped up in the pocket right before he was hit. And it wasn’t an unnecessary roughness penalty, it was a roughing the passer. Not only was Big Ben not in any passing motion at the time, he was actively moving toward a potential tackler. This was an appallingly poor call on the official’s part, and it plays well to the sit-on-your-ass-and-watch-Good-Morning-America-and-Oprah-all-day crowd. There are some good things that 24/7 coverage of news and sports have provided to Americans, but the allowing of poorly informed viewers to voice their poorly informed opinions is not one of them. It has made both sports and politics just about impossible to watch anymore, especially professional sports.

    2. The .gif shown doesn’t show this, but his helmet NEVER makes contact with Roethlisberger’s helmet. NFL.com had the best angle in their video review of the game.

      It should have been reviewable, and I HOPE the official thought this happened. Because if he threw a flag just because it was a rough looking hit, the game of football is beginning its death rattle.

    1. I agree with finebammer…PURE BS….Form Tackle on a QB running the ball…WTF NFL???
      RTR
      PROTECT AMERICA, BUILD SUBMARINES

  5. CORRECT BAD CALL BY REF WHOSE VISION WAS BLOCKED…UP’S LEGAL HIT HEAD UP HIT WITH TOP OF HELMET NOT CROWN AND FACEMASK PERFECT….FINE THE REF 2000 BUCKS

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