Still Shots on Zona's (#53 Jason Parker?) Dirty Hit on Ben Olson

I did not see the game live. I was at the Dodger game. I watched a replay of the game and I am deeply troubled by what I saw from that hit. I'm glad KD forwarded his complaints to the PAC-10!

Even the radio announcers were surprised there was no flag on the play.

Who would of thunk it. Saturday was not a first.

Let's see:

1. The ball was almost to the receiver and Ben had not been hit yet.
   
2. Ben does get hit long after the ball is out of his hands.
   
3. AZ player that hit Ben was clearly going for the knee long after the ball is gone.
   
4. Call a foul on our guy for a late hit on their QB even though it was apparent he was trying to pull up.

Conclusion: Why would anyone (PAC-10 officials)throw a flag on a play that was a text book case of not only a late hit but an obvious flagrant foul that should have thrown him from the game at a minimum, with possible sanctions after that.

What a train wreck these officials are. A foul called would not have prevented the injury, but at least there would have been some justice.

That we need to move on.  I do believe it was a really really late hit worthy of penalty, suspensions, and fines-  However, Ben is out... There's not much we can do but hope that Pat Cowan is ready to answer the call.  I have to say, although I think Ben is the future, Pat might bring some new legs to our offense.  I think he looks good rolling out and while everyone doesn't seem to be impressed by him, he got the ball where it needed to be on a few key drives.  He also wasn't helped out by a couple dropped passes.  In addition, there was word that back in spring camp, Olson had a problem with decision making- more specifically, he held onto the ball too long.  In the past few games, I have seen those problems magnify.  Ben would wind up to throw a pass and then stop, pull back and either try to make it or throw it to someone else.  EVERY TIME he did that, save one or two times, it was incomplete or an INT.  I'm not calling for Ben's job, but Pat Cowan did a great job deciding on targets and  firing with accuracy (most of the time).  Running ability is also something he showed last week.  I'm therefore excited by what he potentially brings to the table in Ben's absence.

I dunno anymore, my first impression was that it was an intentional late hit, but now that I've looked for the 100th time it seems like it wasn't intentional.  

#53 started out being blocked by our guy, but then our guy reached around to swat 53 in the back to make him lose his ballance and then focused on #33.  I didn't notice our player's arm reach around and swat before, but I see it now.  

Also, if you watch #53's legs, he was not in control of his body after being swatted.  Finally, the pictures that were posted just now show his hand reaching for the ground right in front of Olson's shoe as if to break a fall.  If he was trying to go for the knees I would expect his arm to be stretched out more, but it's hardly stretched towards olson at all.

No doubt it was a late hit, but I'm not sure it was intentional.