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ACC: Officials "Clearly Erred" at UNC-Virginia Game
By Dane Huffman Sep 17, 2007
The Atlantic Coast Conference supervisor of officials said Monday that the crew in Chapel Hill “clearly erred” in initially calling a Virginia field goal no good Saturday.
Early in the second half, Virginia’s Chris Gould made a 48-yard attempt that back judge Virgil Valdez ruled no good, and field judge Frank Overcash agreed.
Virginia coach Al Groh challenged the call and it was overturned.
Virginia beat North Carolina, 22-20.
“The officials clearly erred in not calling that field goal good,” Doug Rhoads, the ACC supervisor of football officials, said from Greensboro. “It was a breakdown in their mechanics. … It was a deviation from our standard practice of mechanics by both officials.
“We’ll address their error in mechanics.”
Rhoads, who spent 29 years as a back judge before moving to his current position this year, praised his officials, saying, “These are veteran officials. They’re excellent. But even they make an occasional mistake.”
On field goals, the back judge is always under the crossbar on the side opposite the press box and the field judge is under the cross bar on the side near the press box.
Replays showed the ball barely cleared the bottom left corner just above Valdez; Valdez seemed to jerk away as if to avoid being hit.
“The proper mechanic is each official has the upright he is standing under. The ball has to entirely pass inside the imaginary line of the pipe. If any part of the ball is over the pipe, it’s no good,” Rhoads said.
“Now, as the ball is coming down, they have the crossbar to contend with. It’s the back judge’s responsibility for any play that hits the crossbar.”
THis time, Rhoads said, “It looks like it’s almost going to strike him. He moves to avoid being hit, and when he does, he loses his concentration.”
What should happen is the back judge and field judge look at each other, verbally assess whether the field goal was good or not, and make the call together, he said.
In this case, replays showed Valdez appeared to make a “no good” call and Overcash followed.
ACC head coaches are allowed one challenge per game, and Groh used his. All plays are also reviewed by three people in the booth with a television monitor.
“The head coach only can ask for one challenge per game,” Rhoads said. “So the way it reads is the head coach can request a review. The correct term is ‘challenge,’ one challenge per game.
“We grant a time out and they go to the review. If the review results in a reversal, the coach is correct, he gets that time out back. But he doesn’t get an additional challenge.”
In this case, Groh’s challenge was upheld.
Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Most Recent Comments
You keep talking about a game tomorrow. What game is on Wednesday? ;)
It's not the worst thing in the world. When I saw the video, it sounded to me like he was questioning how such a play could happen. All I could think was, "whatever happened, Butch, justice was served!" Imagine if they did not review that and Virginia lost. I wouldn't even want my Wolfpack to win a game like that.
I'm out for the night -- have a good one. Butch ain't so bad. Hopefully he and O'Brien will have much success and have some good knock-down drag-out battles on the football field for years to come. It's time our NC teams climbed to national prominence. These coaches might just get it done.
Truth, I'm glad I could humor you.
I dont' know what Butch's intent was, I just don't see it at that big of a deal, certainly not an indication of a lack of class. But whatever. Replay worked, UNC lost and we have a new game. Pretty simple to see.
"The rules said Video can not be used during a game. Butch Davis was told that UVA coaches used the video replay to determine if the play should be reviewed. So he is asking if that is allowable under the rules. And that is a lack of class?"
Thanks to Marvin for posting the text of what was said...
HockeyRules, I just read all the posts since my last post and you really cracked me up with some of your replies. Too funny!
I'm beating a very, very dead horse here, but Butch was asking for clarification on a rule that enabled the correct outcome to happen. It's like politics. You can defend him if you really want to. Of course Butch can't come out and say he thinks the rules SHOULD HAVE scr3wed Virginia out of the win. But read between the lines. Why does he even care, especially enough to voice that publicly. (Behind closed doors, if he really wanted to know the rules, he could easily have followed up on it in private...)
He practically asked, "How come THEY get to use a camera?"
Agreed, Marvin. A grey area, a clarification, thats about it. Class or not, replay work, UNC lost and there is a new game tomorrow.
Good God, don't you three have lives? This argument has been going on for three hours!
From the N&O:
"We're just asking for clarification," said Davis, whose Tar Heels lost to the Cavaliers 22-20. "The kick was good, make no mistake about it, the kick was good."
"It's the first time in history maybe in college football we've had a field goal [call overturned]," Rhoads said.
A gray area, too, was whether the play was reviewable at all. Field goals are not specifically listed as a reviewable play in the NCAA football rulebook.
So what's the big deal? Butch just asked for someone to explain it to him. Nowhere does it sound like he wanted it overturned, and there was more than enough going on to question WHY it happened, not THAT it happened or that the correct call was made.
Goodness gracious - now maybe Hockey, Truth, and Find can get back to their lives!
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