Get Ready for New Pay Scales

[jimpiano]

If this guy gets his way we are on the way to 6 hour games.
Will officials get the pay that deserves?


From Fox Sports:

To the people who run college football, its respective conferences, and the replay system throughout the sport, a very simple plea:

Starting next year, replay must be able to review anything and everything, anytime and all the time, in every game, in every situation. PERIOD.

After Friday's Louisville-Connecticut game, the need for complete and unfettered replay jurisdiction (brought to national attention the previous weekend by a string of replay controversies) has been made obvious, if not more than obvious.

If you didn't see it or read about it, here's the play that should reform replay jurisdiction/governance issues forever and ever in college football:

Louisville punted to Connecticut. The return man clearly waved his hand in the air to signal for a fair catch. The returner ran, however, after catching the ball.

Delay of game penalty, right? Wrong. The officials missed the call.

Here's where it gets better: if you're a properly-trained kick cover man, you're obviously not supposed to hit the return man if he signals for a fair catch. Don't want to give up 15 cheap yards, right? Well, that's exactly what Louisville's cover men did — they refrained from making contact, as they were coached to do.

This meant that when the Connecticut return man started running, he kept running and running ... all the way to the end zone. Louisville allowed the run to the end zone because ... well ... the runner made a fair catch signal before catching the punt.

Still following this?

Here's the whopper: for some ridiculous and unexplained reason, determining a fair catch signal on a punt isn't subject to replay review. (Just who the heck makes these arbitrary rules anyway? Hopefully, they'll be dead and gone after this season.)

Connecticut, then, got a cheap touchdown — actually, a free touchdown — while Louisville players and coaches did all the right things. In fact, the touchdown occurred BECAUSE Louisville players and coaches did all the right things. The replay setup in college football — as currently structured — presided over one of the greatest miscarriages of football justice ever seen in the sport's 138-year history.

Next year, replay must be able to review EVERYTHING at ALL TIMES. Anything less would not just be uncivilized. Anything less would be criminally unfair to all the people who play and coach college football ... and to the officials on the field who, if backed up by fairer replay review provisions, would also look better as well. — Matt Zemek

[JugglingReferee]

From what I've read, it appears that the official messed up.

If true, it happens. But to allow a touchdown? That is HUGE!

[DJ_NV]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...-apology_N.htm

I know that this is stretching the letter of the rule a bit, but couldn't 12-3-3-a technically be used to call back this play? The rule uses the words "runner judged not to have been down by rule.." I know this is referring to 4-1-3-b, but there is no official definition of "being down" other than the items listed in 4-1-3 that cause the ball to become dead, including fair catch signals as in 4-1-3-g.

It's all academic at this point and I'm sure the IR rule will be rewritten yet again for next season.

[TXMike]

That was my thought as well DJ. But I checked with a current NCAA replay fellow (ACC) and he confirmed that their view of the intent of that provision is the 4-1-3-b sitruation. As I recall, last year didn't the PAC 10 have a play that clearly handled wrong on the field but the booth argument was that it was not reviewable so they did not do so and that led to a change for this season?

At one point there was going to be an addition to Rule 12 covering "eggregious fouls" that were missed on the field and which replay would be permitted to identify and then have crew penalize. I would be surprised if they do not eventually had some "catch all" that permits them to review and overturn any "eggregious error" made on the field

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by jimpiano

The replay setup in college football — as currently structured — presided over one of the greatest miscarriages of football justice ever seen in the sport's 138-year history.

Written by someone who, of course, has seen all of the miscarriages of football justice over the sport's 138-year history.