Setting the record straight

Fiesta Bowl field judge defends his work history

Did Miami freshman cornerback Glenn Sharpe interfere with Ohio State’s Chris Gamble during a critical fourth-down play in the first overtime of the Fiesta Bowl? Or should it have been a non-call, ending the game in Miami’s favor?

Field judge Terry Porter doesn’t mind if fans second-guess his pass interference call, but the Stillwater, Okla., resident is upset with a report alleging he’d twice been reprimanded for controversial calls in the past two years.

"What bothers me the most is [the report] of these two letters of reprimand," said Porter, reached Monday night. "That is absolutely not true. I have been the No. 1-rated field judge in league the last two years.

"Working the game, you always have plays people don’t like. That is just part of it. But this other thing, it is not true, and that is the thing I will defend myself on."

No doubt, line judge Derick Bowers' calling nothing despite having a good look at the play fueled the controversy. Then, Porter, a food broker by day, didn’t help by seemingly taking forever to toss his flag from behind the play.

Asked about the confusion caused by his delay, Porter said: "Well, I can’t get into that."

A quick study of the replays during the game had ABC analyst Dan Fouts loudly questioning the call. ESPN followed up with a report that Porter, who, like all the officials, is from the Big 12, and the conference had twice issued letters of apology in the past two years for games involving controversial calls made by Porter.

A Big 12 administrator refused to confirm or deny the letters of apology, saying any action taken by the conference is a private matter. "It is my understanding of the crew that was there, those were primarily our highest-rated officials at every position," the official said. "So I don’t think that our highest-rated official would be a guy that has had a lot of baggage in his background."

Tim Millis, the conference’s head of officials, has said that Porter might have a shot landing on an NFL crew if he were five years younger [he’s 55] and 20 pounds lighter.

Another twist here is Porter lives in Stillwater and worked spring games at Oklahoma State when Miami head coach Larry Coker was an assistant at OSU from 1983-89.

Reached in New Orleans, where he is attending the college football coaches convention, Coker continued to take the high road on the call Monday, blaming Miami for putting itself in jeopardy with five earlier turnovers.

"I hate it because it is the call that really stood out," Coker said. "We’re on the field; we think we have won the game. There is all the emotion. And all of a sudden, we lose the game."

Coker said he’s watched only a single TV replay, but intends to run through tape of the game with his coaches after returning to Miami.

"We’ll definitely go through the proper channels and write it up," he said. "We’ll grade it -- poor, good or bad -- and send it into Big 12 officials and leave it at that. The score is written. That is something we have deal with, and we’re not the first team that’s had to deal with it."

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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