Comments on: Worst. Replay Officials. Ever.

By: Heels Perspective

Heels Perspective — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:42:51 +0000

Needless to say on this BLOG that is was great win for the Heels, despite some “timely” calls that made me think Ron Cherry himself was in the booth. The “hold” against Hakeem was totally BS and give the ND punter an Oscar for having his ankle breathed on……. THF is addressing the “other” issues very well.

* We have come back twice from deficits in the 2nd half to win big ball games that would have been losses last year.

* I was worried about the FG kicking coming into this game and I certainly feel better that we do have a weapon from 45 yards in…..

* The dropped passes by Brooks including the last one and actually THREE dropped interceptions (by Goddard, Paschal and Carter) certainly helped ND stay in the game.

* The Heels offense had 5 strong scoring drives against a Tenuta defense that was big and fast. ND is inexperienced but they will be very good in the coming years.

* Jimmy Clausen is the REAL deal, despite the INT’s and the near INT’s. The only comment about the REFS I’ll make here is that there was a lot of holding going to give him time. I’ve seen 3 pictures of blatant holding. Check out number 27 in the N@O photo gallery.

*Quan’s play was the key because one could feel the momentum shift even though ND scored again.

* Shaughn D. is the real deal and I’d love to see Little moved to the H-Back position. Ryan Houston is playing very well and gives us a chance at ALL short yardage situations.

* How about some kuddos for Cam Sexton!

* Great football crowd that had some of the sweater vesters telling people to sit down….GEEZ!

By: JBowling

JBowling — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:05:26 +0000

I appreciate that MJenks!! We had better not overlook Virginia as they have come on strong since the Duke whacking. The last two have been convincing wins for them. However, I think that we can stop their rising level of confidence with a strong 1st quarter of play.

By: Jonathan Starsmore

Jonathan Starsmore — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:51:17 +0000

1) The receiver who made the catch and then fumbled for ND was Michael Floyd, not Golden Tate. Floyd’s just a freshman, and ND players pretty much admitted to his fumble in the locker room by saying he was trying to lateral the ball, thinking that time had run out — it’s a typical “freshman mistake” on Floyd’s part, both in not going down as soon as he caught the pass (ND would still have time to spike and run one last play, since the clock would stop for their first down) and in foolishly trying to lateral that ball (there were no ND players around to pick it up).

2) The officials on the field were indeed from the Big East, but the guy responsible for all the replay decisions — Joe Rider — was supplied by the ACC. Since the officials on the field ruled the catch a catch, we need to point the finger at our own conference here about the overturn.

3) Not surprisingly, the N&O put up a short news blurb where the ACC’s coordinator of officiating hailed both replay calls as correct:

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/acc-both-calls-in-unc-game-correct

By: Wilson

Wilson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:55:12 +0000

You can take “Replay” out of the title and be close to right as well. Aleric Mullins causing a fumble, despite being blatantly held with no call (see the N&O’s photo gallery for proof). Nicks’ phantom holding call on Draughn’s TD. Someone on IC make a good point: how can ND drop back to pass 48 times and not have a SINGLE holding call against them ALL game.

I’m not sure those refs would’ve gotten out of BKS alive if ND had won.

But I’m still living on a high!

By: MJenks

MJenks — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:47:11 +0000

Yeah, I don’t know what the refs were thinking. Overturning that catch was ridiculous. They spent more time on that play and the final bumbling plays, and yet they didn’t even look at the maybe strip and recovery of Nicks on the 3-18 conversion (which…seriously, how can you let someone run open 19 yards on an 18-yard play?)

While I’m not happy that ND lost, I’d rather lose fairly (or almost) than to have a win stained by imbecilic replay officials.

I think, however, that UNC needs those announcers to travel with them everywhere they go and loudly proclaim “Not a good offense” so that Sexton/Nicks/Draughn can turn it up another notches or two like they did right after Kuntz’ sack. I kept shaking my head saying, “What happened to ‘not a good offense’?”

Anyway, good win. Good game. Glad we didn’t screw you out of a much-deserved W.

By: Wilf

Wilf — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:16:45 +0000

Rankings are out on ESPN. We are now at 18. Wow.

The wait for that last call was unbearable…. it was so obvious I could only guess we were close to getting screwed.

By: Santiago

Santiago — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:53:45 +0000

So, a Big East crew in the booth overturned an obvious catch that allowed ND a chance to win. Why would they do that? I mean, it’s not like UNC embarrassed any Big East teams on National television this sea–oh, right.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:46:51 +0000

HeelYeah, I think you’re right. I actually think that the call was unreviewable as you state. I also think that the reviewers missed this one also, THF. Tate had full control of the ball, making it a catch, and actually wasn’t stripped but was throwing (lateralling) the ball as he felt there was no time left. The initial call by the refs on the field was correct, as Tate was down by the time he attempted the “lateral.” The clock stopped to reset the down markers and Clausen (who should have had 3 seconds but only had one) spiked it and game is over. I agree with whoever said a sizable riot would have occurred had the review produced any other result than it did. And of course we shouldn’t have been put in that position by the previous Carolina reception that was overturned.

By: HeelYeah

HeelYeah — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:05:41 +0000

I was at the game and couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. Didn’t ND actually run a play after the fumble, where the QB spiked the ball? If so, and if the officials allowed them to do that, then how can the fumble play even be reviewed? I thought that once the next play has been run, you can’t stop play and review a previous play. Of course, if that was true, then the game clock ran out anyway and we’d have still won the game. But I guess I’m just curious as to what events transpired immediately after the fumble play, but before the review.