THe officials did not decide the game. The lack of scoring during the first 47 minutes did.

THe officials did not decide the game. The lack of scoring during the first 47 minutes did. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yes they did...they awarded a TD when they shouldn't have. I understand what you are are saying if A or B was winning 55-0 then this play wouldn't have matter but either way it's still wrong...

Our crew screwed this up last year. I was BJ and ruled TD on a muffed punt recovered in the EZ. It was the first punt of the game from the first series of the game. I was so hoping that that team that it went against would either win or lose by 17 or more. Unfortunately they lost by 7, ending their ~32 game regular season winning streak. I think I caused the team to lose and felt (and still feel) horrible, but I promise you I will never mess that call up again.

PS: We figured it out before half time, our Umpire asked a question on the field but asked it to late otherwise we would have been able to correct it.

[Edited by w_sohl on Oct 4th, 2005 at 11:28 AM]

A proper pre-game would never allow this to happen. Of course you need a competent White Hat to conduct a good pre-game and it sounds like you had neither.

tpaul...where you at this game? Can you define the 'muff'?

If R catches/possesses the kick inside his 5 and his momentum carries him into the endzone where he fumbles the ball and K recovers...it is a touchdown.

This is the only scenario where I can see a TD for K and it possibly be incorrectly described as a muff.

Not to say anything bad about you and yes you made a mistake but what about the other 4 guys on your crew?

I know as a referee I would have been down there and asked you, "How can K score on this play?"

I agree about the proper pregame but also 4 other guys let this play happen, how can you do that?

I was at the game watching, I was NOT on the field or working the game I was a spectator!!! duha, I know what a muff is. I knew the call was wrong but I couldn't change it or have anything to do with it. The newspapers got a hold of this and that crew is under fire! And they should be...

If my crew made this call somehow. I know I would have corrected it right away. I have a solid BJ and I run him through these things in the pregame.

You seem to care too much about this mistake, to be honest. It's something for this crew to learn from, but it's nothing to hang them over.

Oh, and this wouldn't have happened had R simply caught the punt :)

no, I posted it so guys can think about this play in hopes that they won't screw it up. I hope the crew on the game have learned from it but....

Yep all R had to do was catch it.

Better yet, R should have stayed away from it completely!

You are right, the WH should have known this. However the BJ is more to blame. He is the one that is totally responsable for making this call and there is zero excuse for him not know that rule. To me a BJ should know the kicking game, especially scrimmage kicks, like the back of his hand. I do not care how well he may call PI's or relay a football or whatever. If he does not know how to take care of punts then he has no business being a BJ.

I think this example is great for the knowledge base of everyone on this board. I think the reason tpaul seems to "care too much" is that he is familiar with the play and relaying the reaction of the community/paper to the botched call. He is not trying to hang these guys out to dry.

This is a bad call on behalf of all 5 officials. This is a scenario where the officials lost the game for the other team. Yes, they could've scored more points, or left the ball alone, or caught the punt, but one of the 5 guys working the game should've had the rules knowledge to get this right.

I agree, this play happened in my area too. I have decided I'm now going to have a policy where if we have a TD on a kick play, I'm going to ask the calling official how the TD was scored. I may be a LJ but I'm going to make sure we get it right. I suggest any Rs do the same thing, it may look bad to change it from a TD to a TB but its our job to get it right - do what it takes.

thanks guys...

Even, better, R should have a scored a few more TDs earlier in the game.

THIS IS NOT IN OUR CONTROL!! But correcting the mistake, or, even better, knowing the rules and not calling it a TD in the first place, is in our control. It is our resonsibility to know the rules, use proper mechanics, and control the game- not put points on the board erroneously. That is what these officials did.

I'm struggling to find the difficulty in understanding that point.