fan
Divsion I
Posts: 90
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Post by fan on Nov 23, 2014 11:52:37 GMT -5
I was sitting in the stands yesterday at an NCAA Division One Game when I saw what I know is every official's worst nightmare. The ball carrier was hit, and as he was going to the ground, he lost the ball. It was recovered by the defense. However, while the ball was loose, one of the officials blew the whistle. The offense replayed the down, and on the drive ended up scoring a touchdown. Luckily, the game was a blowout, so it had no effect on the outcome of the game. But, I know the official felt horrible. I felt bad for him as I know he knew he made a major mistake and that there was nothing that anyone nor instant replay could do for him.
But, I got to thinking about something. A few years ago, thanks largely to Mike Periera, instant replay started being able to address a ruling of the runner down as long as there was an immediate recovery. A year or so later, that rule trickled down to college. So, what if the official in this game yesterday once he realized what he had done had come running in pointing to the ground ruling the ball carrier down (even though he knew he was wrong)? At that point, replay could have addressed it and fixed his mistake (minus a small return by the defense that I know could not have been addressed). While this does seem like it is going the long way around, it seems like a way that it could have been fixed. And, on top of that, I'm sure that the official would have slept much better last night.
Thoughts?
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Post by andrewmccarthy on Nov 24, 2014 17:31:57 GMT -5
I'm not sure why this wasn't reviewable- wasn't the official ruling the runner down when in fact there was a fumble and a clear immediate recovery by the defense?
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fan
Divsion I
Posts: 90
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Post by fan on Nov 26, 2014 22:36:23 GMT -5
No, he never pointed to the ground or called the play dead. After the runner tried to return it and was tackled, the referee went over to the coach of the team who fumbled, and they came back with the IW ruling and replayed the down.
That was my point. Had he ruled the runner down (even if he knew he was wrong), replay should have been able to fix this.
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