(Comment) NCAA Football Officiating Point of Emphasis for 2015

[RealityCheck]

Spotting the football needs to be a point of emphasis for NCAA football officials for 2015. Hardly a game goes by without at least one spotting miss of over one foot, and gaffes of over a yard are becoming more routine. And the instant replay booth rarely buzzes down to stop play even when replay clearly shows that a spot is way off.

Late in the 4th quarter of today's Conference USA championship game a runner's knee was clearly down at the 36-yard line with the line to gain just past the 35. The ball was spotted with the back nose touching the 35 and a first down was awarded without even a measurement. And play was allowed to continue without the replay booth stopping to take a second look (assuming there was ever a first look).

When it is supposedly the best graded crew in a conference working a championship game and you still have this type of basic mistake, it needs to be addressed across all conferences.

[Welpe]

One whole foot you say?

[Rich]

The fields are perfectly marked. First downs tend to start on yardlines. If it's a first down by the length of the football and it's obvious, why would they go through the charade of measuring?

Checking your posting history, do you ever have anything good to say? The forum isn't just for people to come on here and complain every great while.

[HLin NC]

Where was the ball when his knee hit?

See ya in 2017.

[JasonLJ]

Originally Posted by Welpe

One whole foot you say?

My thoughts exactly.

Just wait until the field is all marked with sensors and a gps unit is placed in the ball. Then and ONLY then will the ball be marked exactly where it's supposed to go every time.

[RealityCheck]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

Where was the ball when his knee hit?

The player was upright with a knee down right on the 36-yard sideline stripe and no arm was extended from his body to stretch the ball forward.

Since the tackler was making the play from the side, the ball-carrier's forward progress point was at the point the knee touched the ground with the ball just across the 36. The line to gain was exactly on the 35. The head linesman was less than four yards from the play between the 39 and 40 when the knee touched down. And he got no help...that's the bigger issue.

If the play had been reviewed by the replay booth even using just the one TV angle, the ball clearly should not have been spotted for a first down. Other camera angles should have provided better evidence that the spot was off by between a half-yard and a full yard.

[RealityCheck]

Originally Posted by Rich

Checking your posting history, do you ever have anything good to say? The forum isn't just for people to come on here and complain every great while.

Rich, legitimate respectful comment should be welcomed and be used to help improve a sport.

The issue of missed spots in college football has been magnified since implementation of instant replay. I don't expect an official 20 yards directly down a sideline away from a ball-carrier to make a perfect spot every time. I do expect an effort to improve mechanics and get officials into better position to minimize excessively missed spots. I also expect officials who appear to be in proper position not to miss spots by a half-yard or more. And when spots are obviously missed, I expect other crew members to help out and for instant replay to be utilized.

Plays like this one should be used a teaching aid to improve officiating. That is why I brought it to the attention of this forum.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by RealityCheck

Rich, legitimate respectful comment should be welcomed and be used to help improve a sport.

The issue of missed spots in college football has been magnified since implementation of instant replay. I don't expect an official 20 yards directly down a sideline away from a ball-carrier to make a perfect spot every time. I do expect an effort to improve mechanics and get officials into better position to minimize excessively missed spots. I also expect officials who appear to be in proper position not to miss spots by a half-yard or more. And when spots are obviously missed, I expect other crew members to help out and for instant replay to be utilized.

Plays like this one should be used a teaching aid to improve officiating. That is why I brought it to the attention of this forum.

Most of the inbounds spots are actually gotten by the official across the field using cross-field mechanics. Did you know that?

Deep plays -- the deep wings usually get the spots mentally and communicate them to the short wings coming down the field.

Doesn't mean there won't be mistakes, but if a player is stopped inbounds, it's usually not the guy 20 yards back that's making that decision.

Further, officials tend to start with first downs on a yardline. Short wings will decide if it's short or not before putting the ball down. If it's a first down, they'll round it to a yard line every time -- at least at the levels where the fields are well-marked.

[HLin NC]

And when spots are obviously missed

Your OP mentions where his knee went down. That has nothing to do with the ball, only in the sense of where the ball was WHEN the knee went down.

Your comment is no different than any of the 500 yahoos in the stands behind me hollering about what a horrible spot something is from time to time. Your "respectful comment" smacks of pompous self-righteousness.

Trust me, you won't be working NCAA long if your supervisor thinks your spots suck. In fact if you're that bad, you probably aren't working it to begin with.

[jTheUmp]

Care to post a video of this "missed spot" so that we can see just how "badly" it was "missed"?

If it's as bad as you claim, there's gotta be some fanboy "the refs screwed us" youtube video of it somewhere.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by RealityCheck

Rich, legitimate respectful comment should be welcomed and be used to help improve a sport.

Is that your only purpose here?

Your name and posting history seem to show an agenda. Do you officiate?

[RealityCheck]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

Care to post a video of this "missed spot" so that we can see just how "badly" it was "missed"?

If it's as bad as you claim, there's gotta be some fanboy "the refs screwed us" youtube video of it somewhere.

I tried to post the screenshot I have linked below two weeks ago, but the forum won't let me. And that was despite reducing the file size to less than the 100K listed as the maximum allowed.



The line to gain is squarely on the 35 as the TV line to gain was just past where the actual line should have been. The ball was spotted squarely on the 35 and no measurement was called for.

[RealityCheck]

Originally Posted by Rich

Is that your only purpose here?

Your name and posting history seem to show an agenda. Do you officiate?

I have officiated in the past. But why should that be relevant?

If I had come on this forum and called out crew members by name, that would have crossed the line. Instead I have been called out twice in this thread for bringing a legitimate discussion topic to the forum.

What I want, and what I hope everyone posting here wants, is for officiating to continue to improve. This thread points out an area where there is room for improvement.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by RealityCheck

I tried to post the screenshot I have linked below two weeks ago, but the forum won't let me. And that was despite reducing the file size to less than the 100K listed as the maximum allowed.



The line to gain is squarely on the 35 as the TV line to gain was just past where the actual line should have been. The ball was spotted squarely on the 35 and no measurement was called for.

This still shot is nowhere near enough information to spot the ball properly. Learn to officiate ... then you can come complain with an understanding of all the principles involved. The mere fact that you think this post is enough to spot the ball clearly indicates you don't understand everything involved in spotting the ball.

[HLin NC]

I found the game highlights on YouTube. The play starts at about the 36:05 mark into the video, :54 sec game time. It is 3-9 for Marshall (green) from just inside the B45 yard line.

Marshall intercepted the ball and the interceptor was downed at the then A30 yard line. Marshall was penalized after the play 15 yards for USC and the ball would have been spotted at the now B45 yl.

Now if you want to argue that the Marshall receiver didn't get any part of the ball to the B35 yl, which would be all that he had to do as the ball would have been spotted with the nose on the B45 as any good NCAA umpire on down would do, then I'll grant you the argument there.

If your argument is he didn't get to the superimposed yellow line, that has nothing to do with it and is unofficial and would not have been the line to gain.

http://youtu.be/PZv9Y2a-AGc?t=36m5s