FanPost

Best Seat in The House: Staying Grounded

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Boy, that was sure exciting this weekend wasn’t it? I mean we went into a game as a big underdog at home and everyone expected a repeat of our last matchup with those guys. They have one of the most prolific offenses the last few years with an outstanding QB and weapons all over the field. We sure got revenge in a big way, though, didn’t we? Came out from the get-go and absolutely STOMPED all over those punks. Oh wait…sorry, I’m still a little hung over from the Cowboys last night. Apologies for letting that bleed into this latest installment of B-SITH. Although, as a bit of an ND connection, Zach Martin has been an absolute joy in Big D. Jerry Jones (well not really him but whoever it was that strapped him down to a chair and took away his "Johnny Manziel Draft Card") is looking like a genius for taking the ND product to create the most dynamic OL in the NFL.

Ok, I’ll get off my fanboy track and start talking about some COLLEGE football. Once again I don’t really have to search for a topic to write about because we sure had a big one that went against us and I think all of ND Nation (not THAT NDN, the ND Nation as a whole) was left scratching their heads and thinking something wasn’t right. The play of course, is this:


ND is driving for a late score to really put the whoopin’ on the Orange(men) and start to drive the final nail into the coffin right before halftime. The team gets lined up for a spike with the clock running down. Instead of this, however, the QB/Center exchange is botched, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Slept-Upon does not gain control of the ball and whacks the ball into the ground drawing an incomplete pass call from the Center Judge (which surprises me as well, because I thought the only thing this guy was supposed to do was spot the ball, but whatever). After the whistle blows, everyone stops and a split second later a DB who is about 15 yards away comes sprinting in, picks up the loose ball and runs it back for a touchdown.

It’s quite interesting that the Syracuse faithful are just as upset about this play as we are, but for completely different reasons. Their head coach wants to make it seem like the officials were on the take for ND here, apparently. I don’t know how else to interpret the (luck of the Irish) crack there other than that. To me, that means "We should have gotten a TD and the officials jobbed us out of it." So who is right? ANYONE? Syracuse, ND, the officials?

Luckily, we have the trusty ol’ rulebook to help us out here…or DO we? There are a couple of rule references I need to introduce here. The first one is regarding POSSESSION as a definition.

This is rule 2-4-1 (CAPS EMPHASIS is mine):

In Possession

ART. 1. "In possession" is an abbreviation meaning the holding or controlling of a live ball or a ball to be free-kicked. IT may refer to either PLAYER possession or TEAM possession.

a. A player "gains possession" when he secures the ball firmly by holding or controlling it while contacting the ground inbounds. The ball is then in PLAYER possession.

b. A team has team possession:

1. When one of its players is in possession, including when he is attempting a punt, drop kick or place kick

2. While a forward pass thrown by one of its players in flight; or

3. DURING A LOOSE BALL IF ONE OF ITS PLAYERS WAS LAST IN POSSESSION

c. A team is in legal possession if it has team possession when its players are eligible to catch or recover a ball

The second rule I want to mention is in rule 4 regarding when a ball is declared DEAD:

Live Ball Becomes Dead

Art 2. a. A live ball becomes a dead ball as provided in the rules or when an official sounds his whistle (even though inadvertently) or otherwise signals the ball dead

b. If an official sounds his whistle inadvertently or otherwise signals the ball dead during a down:

1. When the ball is in player possession, then the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play where declared dead or repeat the down

2. When the ball is loose from a fumble, backward pass or illegal pass, then the TEAM IN POSSESSION may elect to put the ball in play where possession was lost or repeat the down (Excep. Rule 12).


There are other cases after 2, but they don’t apply here. So we’ve learned two things…when a ball is loose from a fumble it is not in PLAYER possession but it is still in TEAM possession and if the ball is accidentally (inadvertently) declared dead, then it is declared dead while in TEAM POSSESSION by the last team to have PLAYER possession. This is exactly what happened Saturday. Hegarty was the last player to have possession of the ball and the whistle was blown while the ball was a fumble(which is how replay ruled).

Now to borrow a phrase from my good friend, Lee Corso…NOT SO FAST, my friend. There is a bit of a kink here. Notice that there is an exception to point #2 in rule 12? Rule 12 is the area of the rulebook concerning REPLAY. Uh-oh…we might have to admit they got one right. What does rule 12 say? Well, rule 12 says a lot of stuff and since I am not a replay official I really would be speaking out of turn because the guys that do that undergo separate training from what we do, as officials. First, here is the rule governing this play:

Rule 12-3-3

Dead ball and Loose ball

Art. 3. Reviewable plays involving potential dead balls and loose balls include:

a. Loose ball by a potential passer ruled a fumble

b. Loose ball by a passer ruled incomplete forward pass when THERE IS A CLEAR RECOVERY IN THE IMMEDIATE CONTINUING ACTION AFTER THE LOOSE BALL

1. If the replay official does not have indisputable video evidence as to which team recovers, the ruling of incomplete stands.

2. If the replay official rules fumble, the ball belongs to the recovering team at the spot of the recovery and any advance is nullified.

Again there is more to this that is not germane. This really doesn’t help a ton because how do we define "continuing action?" How do we rule what is "immediate" here? There are a number of scenarios in the instant replay book, including one that is EXACTLY like this case but for one major difference:

66. QB spike to stop clock

First and 10 on the B-20. With time running out in the second quarter,

A10 receives the snap and immediately attempts to spike the ball. Before

his arm starts forward, the ball pops out and lands at the B-23 where

B77 recovers. The Referee rules incomplete pass. RULING: Reviewable

play. Reverse to fumble, Team B 1-10 on B-23 (Rule 12-3-3-b).


In this case, it’s clear that one of the DL immediately jumped on the ball. This is different than what happened with Syracuse where a player 15 yards away ran in long after everyone had stopped playing and the officials moved in to prevent late hits or action after the whistle and recovered the loose ball. I really can’t rule on this because I have no replay training.

Luckily, though, I have access to some replay officials! YAAAY! I sent this scenario over to one of my buddies who is a replay official in the Big XII whose name I cannot divulge, but trust me, he’s a good one. When I asked him about this play, he admitted he hadn’t seen the play yet (UPDATE: check bottom of this article for his response) but I attempted to relay exactly what I saw with as little bias as possible. Here’s the text of my description:

"Attempted spike ruled incomplete pass. Review correctly ruled fumble, but I question them allowing Syracuse recovery. It looked like everyone stopped and a half second later, a DB near the numbers ran in and picked up the ball."

I asked him "How do you (the NCAA) define ‘continuing action?’"

His answer, "If players IN THE AREA continue to participate in the play, then is deemed to be in the immediate continuing action." Finally, when he read my description, his final ruling was, "Did not see it but if it's what you described, that would not fit the description."

There we have it. From a major conference replay official, this one was called wrong. I do feel for Syracuse a bit too because it SHOULD have been a fumble on the field and the whistle should have blown, but if that had happened, would EG or one of the OL have jumped on the ball? It sure looked like the only reason SYR got the recovery was because no one else challenged them. The fact that we basically had an inadvertent whistle on a fumble SHOULD have given ND the option to either replay the down or have possession of the ball where it was lost and play the next down. This is not what happened and the Irish were denied a chance to score at the end of the half.

***********************EDIT*********************************

I wrote this a few days ago and have been sitting on posting it till today. I got an email yesterday from my replay friend and he told me he saw the play and it was being discussed among the replay official community. He confirmed that this was an incorrect call and will be highlighted by Dr. Redding in a few weeks to help train the officials in the future.

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