cal.-maryland no safety

[football-1]

not good quality
YouTube - safety

how is this not a safety?
the ball must be completely out of the end zone.

after play 2.down and spot 1/2 or 1y line.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by football-1

not good quality
YouTube - safety

how is this not a safety?
the ball must be completely out of the end zone.

after play 2.down and spot 1/2 or 1y line.

It was an error in judgment by the covering official. The call should definitely have been a safety touch after looking at that video.

[bisonlj]

It does appear it should have been a safety. I know our crew has the philosophy to make sure the guy was tackled well in the end zone so as to not give the defense a cheap safety. If it's close you give the offense the benefit of the doubt. I wonder if that's what happened here. On video though it looks like he made a bad judgement call. That looks like a safety.

[dumbref]

Agree, error in judgment. Did replay over turn the ruling?

I do not mean to emply this was anything other than a mistake, but errors like this is the origin of the term homer. I'm sure that where the original poster was headed with this. It's time for myth busters!

[TXMike]

From the Daily Californian:

By Matt Kawahara
Daily Cal Staff Writer
Sunday, September 14, 2008 | 8:48 pm
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- With just under two minutes left in the first half of the Cal football team's loss to Maryland, Bryan Anger unleashed a 63-yard punt that pinned the Terrapins at their own one-yard line.

On Maryland's first play from scrimmage, Da'rel Scott rushed up the middle -- and right into the arms of Bears nose tackle Derrick Hill.

Hill, Worrell Williams and Rulon Davis wrestled Scott backward and onto the grass of the Maryland end zone. Davis jumped up and raised his hands in the air, signaling a safety.

Only the referee didn't follow suit.

"There was no doubt in my mind that was a safety," Hill said. "Can't really cry over spilled milk, but from my view -- and from Worrell's and maybe Rulon's -- we thought it was a safety."

After a brief conference, the officials placed the ball inside the one-yard line and the Terrapins kept possession. Cal coach Jeff Tedford called a timeout but didn't challenge the play.

"(The officials) said they were reviewing it (in the booth)," Tedford said immediately after the game. "I was going to call timeout right then anyway, probably should've used a challenge ... But they said it wouldn't matter because they were reviewing it anyway up there."

It is the job of a replay official in the press box to immediately review every play of the game, and Rule 5, Section 12 of the 2008 edition of NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations says that, "He may stop a game at any time before the ball is next legally put in play," when he sees "reasonable evidence" that an error was made in the on-field ruling.

No review was called for.

On Sunday, after having a day to review the tape, Tedford was direct when asked about the play.

"That was a safety," he said.

The no-call turned out to be a pivotal point in the game, as the Bears trailed 21-6 and had little offensive momentum at the time. Cal did get the ball back before the half ended, but David Seawright missed a 25-yard field goal and the Bears went into halftime trailing by 15 points.

"(The officials) didn't give us an explanation at all, actually," Hill said. "It was one of those things that just slid right by. I was telling the coaches on the sideline, 'That's a safety, coach. We need to challenge that.'"

Rule 12, Section 3 of the NCAA rule book says that, "Reviewable plays governed by a side line, goal line or an end line include ... Scoring plays, including a runner in possession of a live ball breaking the plane of a goal line."

Rule 8, Section 5 includes the safety as a scoring play.

Because the NCAA does not share the NFL rule stating that challenges can come only from the booth in the final two minutes of a half, Tedford did have the option of challenging. But Hill didn't even think it should have come to that.

"I was just more upset that it wasn't called in the first go-around," Hill said.

[Fan10]

The thing about the college replay system is that most of the time, the coach's challenge is useless. The same man who will be making the decision as to whether to change the call is the same man who has made the decision not to stop the game for a booth review. So, a coach is put in a positionn where when the replay official does not stop it, he more than likely is wasting a timeout (and his only challenge) when he knows that if there was any doubt, the replay official would be stopping the game.

But, of course, you never know when the replay official's monitor may have gone dead or when a better angle might become available later. It is, however, a tough spot for a coach to have to decide whether to risk a timeout when he knows that it probably won't be overturned because if there was a chance of an overturn, it would already be under review.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

It does appear it should have been a safety. I know our crew has the philosophy to make sure the guy was tackled well in the end zone so as to not give the defense a cheap safety. If it's close you give the offense the benefit of the doubt. I wonder if that's what happened here. On video though it looks like he made a bad judgement call. That looks like a safety.

I swear, the more I read about various NCAA officiating philosophies, the less I understand them.

[JasonTX]

Originally Posted by Welpe

I swear, the more I read about various NCAA officiating philosophies, the less I understand them.

For this philosophy it is used in situations where you don't have a good few of the ball or you just aren't sure if he got the ball all the way out. If that is the case, instead of ruling safety, go ahead a rule he got it all the way out. I don't believe we would be able to use this with this play.