Carolina vs New England last play

[bisonlj]

Here's another video from a college game a couple weeks ago. Rom Gilbert featured this on his weekly picks. I think we can all agree the restriction was much greater on this play and the receiver was much closer to the ball, although it was underthrown as well.

This was Rom's poll question and 76% said there was no foul, even though one was called on the field. Here is the text Rom put in the set up of the video:

When the pass is intercepted before it even gets to a receiver, does that receiver still get pass interference protection? Does the timing of the contact on the Team A receiver matter? Recall that after a ball has been touched "anywhere inbounds by an inbounds player", pass interference rules do not apply (7-3-9-h). Also, if a pass is uncatchable, there can be no DPI (7-3-9-c-1).

DPI and Pass Cut Off - YouTube

The discussion around this play I had with other college officials was very similar to what JRut is arguing. Until I started seeing plays like this on training videos I would have made the same arguments most others are making. The philosophy very clearly in the college level is to NOT consider this a foul. I believe that is coming from the NFL level where most supervisors work. They may not downgrade the call if you make it because technically you are true, but they would likely call it too technical and suggest you not call it in the future.

JRut may come across arrogant and I've argued with him several times, but in this case he's 100% consistent with what we've been told from those working at the highest levels of NCAA.