Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher says he didn't care if he gets fined, but there were some things he wanted to speak on regarding the officiating in Saturday night's 37-34 loss to Clemson.
The lead changed hands three times in the final quarter of another instant classic between the ACC Atlantic rivals. Penalties had a huge impact on the game, a sign of miscues in a huge game and some judgment calls by the officials that are getting questioned Sunday morning. Jimbo Fisher was riding the officials throughout the second half, but after the game, he said a chop block penalty that brought back a 50-yard run by Dalvin Cook was not only wrong, but caused a huge swing in momentum in the game.
"It's ridiculous, it's not a chop, it was not a chop. And I'm going to tell you what, you hold coaches accountable, players accountable, hold the damn officials accountable. It's garbage. And then to call another penalty on the sideline is even more garbage. It's cowardly, it's gutless and wrong," Fisher told reporters after the game.
"Now they can take it, fine it, do whatever they want to do with it, that's a fact. Look at the film. It's ridiculous that they do it. That was a huge call in the game. Now, [we] still had chances to win the game after that. That's ridiculous and the guy wasn't even in position to make it and plus it was 10 yards down the field so the penalty should have been marked from there, not from the line of scrimmage."
Fisher then turned the attention to the hard hit that knocked quarterback Deondre Francois out for one play.
"And it was targeting on [Francois] when he got hit in the belly, when he got knocked out, the crown of the helmet right in the chest. He gets killed at Miami, we don't call it, he gets killed here. Both of them bad. Real bad."
#FSU head coach Fisher after he was asked about the chop block on what would have been a Dalvin TD pic.twitter.com/7zT5RfGyEn
— Jordan Culver (@JordanCulver) October 30, 2016
Fisher later came back to the targeting penalty that wasn't called on Clemson and the targeting penalty that was called on Trey Marshall, leading to his ejection.
"I didn't think it was targeting. I still don't," he said. "I don't think he led, he led with the side of his helmet, I didn't think he led with the crown. They review that and they can review Deondre, who's a quarterback being exposed on a two-step deal and don't call that. Whoever's in the booth is bad, too."
Florida State will likely send the ACC league office its case regarding several of the pivotal calls in Saturday night's loss and, based on Fisher's comments, the league office will be in touch.