Instant Replay Idiocy
 

The same folks who can see a thumb touching a ball cannot see a ball hitting a pylon.

Story by Scott Taylor
Deseret Morning News
December 21, 2007

SAN DIEGO--Sandwiched between the postgame interview
sessions of Navy and Utah coaches and players after the
Utes' 35-32 victory Thursday night, a Poinsettia Bowl
official read a statement from the officiating crew about a
blown call against Navy in the fourth quarter.

The play came on a Brian Johnson third-down pass to Jereme
Brooks, where the Utah wide-out dove for the end zone and
tried to push the ball past the sideline pylon at the goal
line.

The ball appeared to leave his hand and hit the pylon, with
the officials ruling the play wasn't a touchdown and that
Utah retained possession for a fourth-down try from inside
the 1-yard line.

In their written statement, the crew cited NCAA Football
Rule Section F-1, Rule 8, Section 6, Article 1, Item 1,
explaining "the ball was fumbled forward, hit the pylon.
The pylon is out of bounds, also in the end zone. The
mistake was--it should have been ruled a touchback."

In other words, the ball changes possession, with Navy
taking over at its own 20, rather than Utah having a
fourth-down try.

Even though Navy didn't get the ball after the would-be
touchback, the Midshipmen still got the ball without a Utah
score, since the Navy defense stuffed Darrell Mack's
fourth-and-goal try from one foot out.

Trailing 28-25 with 3:40 left in the game at that point,
Navy took over a foot outside of their own end zone. Three
plays later, the Midshipmen were looking at fourth-and-two
at their own 9, needing a first down to sustain the drive.

A quarterback keeper by Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada around the
left end was stopped well short of the marker by Ute
defensive back Joe Dale, with Utah regaining possession on
downs inside the Navy 10 and scoring four plays later.

Might Navy have had better success on the drive with a
little more working room, starting on the 20 rather than
just shy of the end zone? It certainly made a difference in
play-calling, as well as a possible impact in time,
distance and momentum.

I have no idea why you seem to think your sole purpose in life is to do nothing but bash officials on this site. We can find these articles very easily if we desire to read them. But then, you would have lost your purpose in life, wouldn't you?

Got news for you, the officials who worked the Navy game are not the same officials who worked the Texas game.

If you bothered to read and comprehend you might understand that my complaints are not about officials on the field. While you are bashing me the game is being taken away from the fans, players,the men in the striped shirts and being replaced with retirees staring at plasma tvs while thumbing through the rule book. And they still get it wrong. This is not good for officiating. It is even worse for the game. In the Poinsettia Bowl the wrong call was made on the field. It happens. So why did it take 5 minutes to get it wrong again through replay? Replay is a cancer on the game that reduces the enjoyment for the ticket buying fan in the stands who would be better off staying home and watching the game be decided on a tv screen.

Same officials? Are you blind or what? I challenge you to dawn the stripes and we'll see how long you last. As far as getting on here and complaining about instant replay, you are barking up the wrong tree. You need to go find a coaching site to complain since they have more of a say over how instant replay and other rules are operated. If your still not satisfied just work you way up the ranks of officiating and then you can be the one operating the replay. Until then, your opinion is not important. If you want football that is designed for entertainment only, then you should direct your attention to the NFL. Fan enjoyment is NOT the top priority of college sports so any decision the NCAA makes has nothing to do with fans. Face the facts, fans are not a vital part of athletics.

As Vince Lombardi once said, " you can guard against everything in life except stupidity."

I didn't see the play, but in NCAA, if on a 4th down, the ball is fumbled forward, doesn't the ball return to the spot of the fumble for a COP?

The ball was fumbled into the pylon and landed out of bounds.

You don't add anything positive to the site, so why would I bother to give any thought to the nonsense you post? This is NOT a fan gripe site. Take to a fan site, fanboy!

In this play it appeared the ball was fumbled and then struck a pylon That Makes the fumble out of bounds in the end zone at that moment. By rule, a touchback would be awarded to the defense so they would have 1st and 10 at the 20.

There is an ignore feature if you care to use it.

Maybe you saw on the NFL Network the Dallas-Carolina pregame when referee Mike Carey was explaining to his crew what to do during replay to keep the fans entertained. If not, there is a balance between time to review and keeping the game moving and Mike was trying to strike a balance.

Replay is here to stay like it or not in the NFL and NCAA. What needs to be done is to improve it to the point where it does not take over the game.

FYI. Baltimore's Brian Billick introduced a proposal at the owner's meeting last spring to use replay to settle calls when there is a disagreement among officials on the field. Gladly, the owners voted it down.

With no disrespect intended you said you do not work football, therefore, comprehending the speed the game moves on the field is hard to imagine. At the pro level some of these players move at 25 miles per hour top speed. Those at home see replays and replays in slo-mo while officials on the field see it in real-time and have to make decisions in real-time. Frankly, they do a good job but anything that can enhance their job only makes the sport better.

I certainly understand replay is here to stay, if for nothing else than to protect officials from the gamblers. But the NCAA has got to get closer to the NFL in how to use replay. This incessant review of any close play is turning the game into one long TV show and is not fair to the fans in the stands or the officials on the field. Give the coaches challenges tied to timeouts and move on.

JimP

Correctly or incorrectly, the fans, media, coaches, players, and even some officials have cried out that incorrect calls in sports are hurting the teams playing the game. Only the major sports were in a position to try to do something about it.

Is instant replay the answer? It has certainly done a lot to correct questionable calls made on the field. But there is flaw in the system. It still relies upone a human being to review the play and people will make mistakes even with the aid of technology. We can all make mistakes especially when we feel rushed to make a decision. I am sure the booth official feels a certain amount of pressure to get the call correct in a timely manner. If the on field officials can get miss a call after a lenghty discussion, we can't expect the booth to get 100% of calls correct either.

As an official, I know I've made mistakes in games even after a lengthy conference because I've simply forgotten to take something under consideration.

Bottom line is that even the booth officials can make mistakes because they are human.

I don't disagree with anything you posted, but the NCAA instant replay system is not just flawed, it is badly flawed. We have numerous instances of replay being used to reverse non-controversial calls based on multiple replays or replays of calls that need no review. It simply slows down the game, interrupts the action and makes the jobs of the on the field officials ludicrous as they ponder a decision to make a call that will get reviewed.

Instant replay was touted as a way to correct an obvious mistake, not to put the game under the constant microscope of the digital world. Put the replay decisions into the hands of the coaches and make them challenge a call or calls.

If every call is subject to watching a tv screen sooner or later the fans will opt to stay home and watch the same game the replay booth official is watching. Then we are all out of a game.

Is there a "delete user" feature? :p