[DJ]

You stated, "If there was a short yardage play on the goal line, how would the umpire know the runner crossed the GL with the ball, and yet the wings are unaware of it? Not that I really know of a better way of dealing with a play like this, but IMHO, the U is not a good position to rule on the GL."

I agree that the umpire is not in a good position to make the call but in this case he was the only one who could make the call and was lucky because it was a no brainer for him to see the ball had in fact crossed the end zone. So how did know it crossed the line, he said, "I saw it had crossed the line." For me that's all I need to know because no one else could see that under the circumstances and I would not doubt his judgement until someone else could show me different. Never say never but when the going gets tough cream rises to the top and in this case other than the weak whistle my umpire rose to the top and I respect him for that. He was there when our crew needed him the most and that is the kind of official I want on my crew. My philosophy on officiating is I don't care how we get there as long as we get it right.