Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmc
This was a tough situation, but the current rule is direct, simple and clear; (NFHS: 1.1.11 "Protests of NFHS rules are not recognized". I realize it's not a rule being challenged here, but the misapplication of a rule. That situation is covered in current rule (NFHS: 3.5.11 - The process designed for a coach to question a rule application, during the contest.).
In this actual situation, the team had the opportunity to question the application of this rule, and doing so may have well caused the Referee to correct his error on the spot and prevent what happened.
This decision sets a dangerous prescedent that Mississippi will likely have to deal with again, some time in the future, where some other post game discovery generates a similar request to change events after the fact.
There is no question that the officials misapplied a rule and that mistake produced the opportunity for a score to be added after the game should have been completed. The coaching staff of the disadvantaged team had every right and every opportunity to have followed existing procedures
(3.5.11) to question the ruling and ask it to be reversed.
The official's mistake was, "readily correctable" and could have and should have been corrected before the untimed down was played. Correcting it after the fact creates a dangerous and unfortunate prescedent.
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I don't know if we have all of the information - perhaps the coach did attempt to get a clarification/correction at that time. This whole situation stinks. What if the coach got brushed off by the crew and they stuck with their call? What if the coach realized the next day (for whatever reason), or had someone call him the next day to tell him about the misapplication of the rule - hence prompting his protest - should the protest be upheld? Clearly the rule was misapplied, and OverAndBack, I gotta disagree with you on this one. This is a pretty basic rule (assuming the ball was caught and not recovered), that has been thoroughly discussed - and there is NO EXCUSE for a playoff crew to screw that one up. Now, if the ball was truly recovered as was stated in the article - then I truly have no words....