"I'm not sure why the minutiae about the calls is that important in the first place" - because YOU brought it up.
Insinuating home cooking. False starts, personal fouls, unsportsmanlike, 12 men on the field...are not subject to geographical influences. If you jump before the ball is snapped in MD, Florida or on Mars...its a penalty.
If you take away EVERY false start call (which are no-brainers) and the 12 men on the field, the total is 14-9. FH had no false start calls or 12 men calls, which I personally think is a testament in some part, to more discipline and organization...but also a by product of the offensive styles. When you have 4 and 5WR sets, you are statistically much more apt to have false start calls than in a tight Wing T set. It's common sense.
It was a very physical game between two good teams. More personal fouls on either side than I would like, but not horribly lopsided, really. One of those personal fouls against FH was very crucial and directly led to a subsequent MCC TD. It played both ways. In a game of this caliber between two very good teams, every mistake or penalty was all the more significant both ways.
To address the question of the punter, I too wondered about that. Maybe because the punter started to run, then did a pooch punt, he didn't re-establish himself - in essence he was still a runner? I think it has something to do with that. Like if a QB starts his slide too late and gets hit by a defensive player already mid tackle sorta thing?
Insinuating home cooking. False starts, personal fouls, unsportsmanlike, 12 men on the field...are not subject to geographical influences. If you jump before the ball is snapped in MD, Florida or on Mars...its a penalty.
If you take away EVERY false start call (which are no-brainers) and the 12 men on the field, the total is 14-9. FH had no false start calls or 12 men calls, which I personally think is a testament in some part, to more discipline and organization...but also a by product of the offensive styles. When you have 4 and 5WR sets, you are statistically much more apt to have false start calls than in a tight Wing T set. It's common sense.
It was a very physical game between two good teams. More personal fouls on either side than I would like, but not horribly lopsided, really. One of those personal fouls against FH was very crucial and directly led to a subsequent MCC TD. It played both ways. In a game of this caliber between two very good teams, every mistake or penalty was all the more significant both ways.
To address the question of the punter, I too wondered about that. Maybe because the punter started to run, then did a pooch punt, he didn't re-establish himself - in essence he was still a runner? I think it has something to do with that. Like if a QB starts his slide too late and gets hit by a defensive player already mid tackle sorta thing?