After ending of Texas A&M-Arkansas, Jimbo Fisher calls for lasers, taller goalposts

You have to love a sport where a fluky play gets a coach to bring up a topic he’s campaigned over at various points during his coaching career: installing laser beams on goalposts. And here we are following Texas A&M‘s 23-21 win over Arkansas on Saturday.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, long a proponent of installing lasers on college goalposts, was asked about the decisive moment in the win: Arkansas missing a 42-yard field goal attempt off the very top of the right upright.

Fisher remains an advocate for either lasers attached to goalposts or higher goalposts in light of Saturday’s wacky bounce.

“I’m going to be honest with you, that cost me a game one time and that was a game one time that a ball went in that they said later it went out,” Fisher said Monday. “I think the high goal post should be there. You have a laser on the goal line, you know, that laser on that eye. I think there ought to be one on the goalpost because in college them things are short and these guys kick it so well I think it would clear up a lot of things. I like the high goal post for that exact reason.”

The Texas A&M coach admitted he didn’t get a great look at the actual Arkansas kick in question, instead turning his focus to closing out the game after it fluttered down harmlessly into the end zone.

The Aggies did just that, claiming a key win over a top-10 opponent.

“You know I haven’t went back and seen that,” Fisher said of the kick. “I didn’t really realize why. I thought it caught the; I didn’t know if it set on the top. Honest with you, I’ve never really looked at it as far as the TV. I knew it hit up there and as soon as it hit and I saw it come down I stopped. I didn’t realize where it hit or what it did. I can’t remember one.”

The original laser beam case by Jimbo Fisher

While references to Fisher’s original call for lasers to be installed on goal posts back when he was coaching at Florida State appear to be mostly lost to the Internet, some remnants remain.

After a controversial ruling of a field goal while at Florida State, Fisher had expressed his dismay there wasn’t better technology available to aid the referees in making the correct call.

As relayed by former FSU kicker Roberto Aguayo, courtesy of Sports Illustrated:

“Personally, I think the laser idea is a good idea. I’m still behind Jimbo. I’ll back him up on that. Games can be won or lost on a kick. I’ve seen it, a kick has gone close and one ref looks at the other. Not a lot of people know this, but my redshirt year, Dustin [Hopkins] was still kicking, and he hit a 27-yarder. He comes off the field and says, ‘Guys, I missed that.’ But the refs counted it in. They said it was good. It went right over the upright.

“One of the kicks I missed this year went over the uprights, too. It looked like I missed it, but when they showed it on the JumboTron the whole stadium booed. It looked good on the JumboTron. Depending on what angle you’re looking at, it’s hard. Lasers I feel like would be a good idea. It’s just about figuring out whether if it goes inside the laser it’s good, or if it touches the laser it’s no good. That would have to be discussed. Either get lasers or make the uprights a little bit longer. Kickers are getting much better and they’re hitting it a lot higher.”