Allow me to save you some time and go ahead and pre-empt some of your comments. Some of you will want to chime in with a testoserone-laden statement that, “you shouldn’t put yourself in that position”…or “never let it come down to the last play”. To be fair, I can’t disagree with you when you make that kind of statement about a game with Akron. So, don’t bother repeating it.
And, please don’t misunderstand my comments in this entry. I am not “blaming the refs” or whining about how we lost since I agree that we shouldn’t be in such a situation with Akron. But, this game cannot pass without us having some comments about this topic.
Agreeing that (in a perfect world) a game with Akron shouldn’t come down to the last play is not an acceptable justification for incompetence by the officials at the game. Isn’t a reviewable spot of the ball in a game-deciding situation EXACTLY the kind of circumstance that has instituted an instant-replay system in college football?
Don’t misunderstand my expectations of the ACC officials who are generally considered to be the worst of the major conferences in America. I would truly NEVER expect college football officials to have the balls and the fortitude to actually over-ruled the play. When the obvious goal and focus of college football is to make the game as short as possible then you can’t expect folks to sit around and spend time doing due diligence.
But, since the officials were so quick to call a touchdown for the Zips then you know that they would have never deemed such a picture as “overwhelming video evidence” to repeal the call. (Oh…wait…unless, of course, the game was NC State @ UNC-CH and they would have had no problem over turning the game changing touchdown).
Even AFTER that picture, and a host of others on the internet, retiring ACC coordinator of football officials Tommy Hunt said that he is satisfied that referees made the correct call on Akron’s game-winning touchdown Saturday against N.C. State. (Link)
I think that it bothers me more that the play wasn’t even reviewed than it does that the play wasn’t overturned.
Update @ 10:25am
Nice comments from the Fayetteville Observer:
But it doesn’t matter whether the knee of Akron running back Dennis Kennedy hit the ground before the ball broke the plane of the end zone or not. If there’s a replay system in effect and a game-deciding score on the final play happens, it SHOULD be reviewed. Otherwise, what’s the point of having such a system?
In other words, don’t leave any doubt in anyone’s mind that you got it right. In that respect, the system failed Saturday, because a lot of people left Carter-Finley Stadium with doubt in their minds.
