I just finished watching UNC edge Notre Dame, 29-24, on TV, like probably a lot of yall did as well. And I can't believe either one of those calls in the final two minutes. The officials seemed dead wrong to me both times.
Do two wrongs ever make a right? In this case, they sort of did. The first one seemed to go incorrectly against the Tar Heels, the second one incorrectly for them, and ultimately UNC won the game as it should have if the first one had been judged the right way, IMHO.
To review: the first call disallowed an apparent UNC first down on a long pass to Brooks Foster, who seemed to catch the ball and come down before the ground knocked it out of his hands and out of bounds. But after a loooooong review, the officials said it was incomplete.
On the second one, a Notre Dame player caught a pass with about 5 seconds left inside the UNC 10. Then he either fumbled it or tried to lateral -- Butch Davis thought he was trying to lateral to a teammate who might somehow get it to the end zone -- but I thought he was already down. UNC did recover.
Notre Dame spiked the ball to try to get off one more play -- and UNC had 12 men on the field when that happened -- but the earlier "was it a fumble?" play was reviewed anyway. The clock also went to 00 and Butch Davis tried to run over and shake Charlie Weis's hand and get it over with. It was a mess.
I thought Notre Dame should have gotten one more play at that point, but instead the officials said it was a fumble and UNC had possession and the game.
It was a brutal and anticlimactic way to end the game, because it put the officials squarely in the spotlight for most of the game's last 20 minutes. However, bottom line -- huge win for the Tar Heels (5-1), who now should move from No.22 to inside the Top 20.
And let's all hope that officiating crew doesn't do any other game this season that any of us see on TV.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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19 comments:
Agreed! Horrible officiating. Brooks Foster caught that pass and it was a ground forced fumble (which didn't matter because it went out of bounds anyways). Horrible!
I'm sorry, but that guy was no where near down before he fumbled. The ball was definitely coming out before his shoulders hit the ground!
The first call was terrible the second call was correct. In the end the good guys won so I can't complain too much.
Going back to the phantom holding call on Nicks during Draughn's TD run, UNC had about 6 blatant attempts by the refs in a row to influence the game in ND's favor.
Scott, if you go back and watch the film, you'll see the WR for ND was lying across two defenders and was not down. The ball came loose and he tried to bat it to a ND player, THEN his shoulders touched.
If ND's spike attempt had been valid, the clock would have run out, as it was under 1 second left. In neither case should ND have gotten another snap.
Looked like the Big East officiating crew were trying to give the game to ND. Was this their idea of payback after Carolina put a whupping on 2 Big East teams - Rutgers & UConn?
Scott, Stop over-compensating for your UNC degree. The review of Foster's catch was absurd, and the review of ND's last play was correct. See Jason's accurate interpretation of the play (which Butch Davis explained in post-game comments)for why it was ruled a fumble. Your responsiblity now is to report on the officals for instant reply at this game. Can we count on you and The Observer, or should we rely on the National Enquirer for effective reporting?
Football is the easier sports to manipulate. The officials on the field got the calls correct. There was no replay shown indicating the catch should have been overturned. There is something wrong when you have instant replay and still get a call wrong. This was real fishy. In regards to the last play, clearly the ND football player fumbled. Stevie Wonder even saw it.
What's worse than a whiny Carolina fan? A whiny Carolina fan who happens to be a columnist. I personally think that the Observer shouldn't allow a Carolina grad to write about how bad the refs were in the UNC game. It's like listening to a four-year old complain about how unfair their parent's rules are. Save your whining for at home Scott.
Get over it...like any of you couch potatoes could do better.
Charlie Weis said in his post-game remarks, "The guys upstairs don't know about when the whistle is blown." That strikes me as absurd, that the replay booth would only get video and not audio. But since the play was clearly a fumble (the ND receiver rolled over the UNC defender but neither his shoulders, his knees, nor the ball touched the ground prior to the fumble) I guess the only thing Weis could claim is that the whistle blew the play dead.
PS pantherfan89 - care to comment on the actual play rather than just spewing vitriol?
I'm not really sure how any of this makes Scott biased considering he thinks the last call should have given Notre Dame another play (Not UNC, NOTRE DAME). Perhaps some of you should read the blog post again.
The point is that the officiating was bad in yet another college game.
In all fairness Scott, your last line about the officiating crew is a little off. The officials on the field seemed to make the calls you agreed with. The problem was the guys in the booth. They were the ones that overruled was called on the field
Foster clearly caught that first down pass, which would have sealed the win in the first place. Plus the ND receiver lost the ball before his shoulders hit the ground, so that was a fumble (or a lateral, whatever way you see it). If ND had gotten another snap, that game would have rivaled the 1972 US Olympic basketball game against the USSR.
Why do the Panther's keep Hackett. With Smith, Muhammed, Rosario and the emerging Jarrett we should let him go and add another offensive lineman.
The incomplete pass call on Brooks Foster was bogus - the receiver had possession all the way and the ground clearly knocked the ball loose. Regardless, there was 1:47 on the clock at the end of that play and there was 1:55 on the clock when play resumed after the ten minute bogus review. The game would have been over after the (correct) fumble call without the extra 8 seconds mysteriously being added to the clock. Even the timekeeper was trying to give the Irish the game.
someone explain something to me. I thought after a ball was snapped, you couldnt go back and review the previous play. After notre dame spiked the ball, how can they review the fumble call?
Bucs hater:
1. What does your comment have to do with the UNC-ND game?
2. You don't use an apostrophe to make a word plural. PANTHERS, not PANTHER'S.
Adam,
It appeared to me that the clock had run out before ND snapped the ball for the spike. Even if you accept that the play was a catch without a fumble, and First Down Irish, the clock starts again as soon as the ball is marked ready for play.
The other possibility is that the Replay Booth contacted the Referee on the field before ND snapped the ball, therefore negating the spike play.
Ironically ND wasn't spiking the ball to stop the clock; they were trying to catch UNC with 12 men on the field, which would have given them one more play as the game can't end on a defensive penalty.
The replay official did in fact buzz the referee before ND snapped the ball for the spike. So that play never happened, meaning the review was valid.
Good evening, thanks for posting this and I will be a regular visitor because this blog is a good tool to learn more about this kind of things , specially if you're interesting at Notre Dame because they are the best and are my team too. 2j3j
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