Does anybody want to discuss the "Phony 1st down"??

Just wondering, im suprised there isnt already a thread with like 10 pgs.....I mean what in the hell were the refs looking at?  Did anybody else think it was a first down? I listened to the Spurrier postgame interview and he was asked about what the refs said to him....Spurrier said initially, he just thought that the refs pointed his arm in the wrong direction for the first down, then after asking him that, the ref said "no, I didnt point in the wrong direction".....Then, thats when spurrier blew up, he asked another official if he thought it was a first down, and spurrier claims the ref said "no, I dont know what he is thinking"......
 
Anyways, with all that said, does anybody wanna defend or explain this?

 
 

The Terry Porter pass interference call that gave tOSU their mNC was by far the worst call in college football ever... until yesterday. 
 
How much more wrong can you be?  You can clearly see the ball is short of the lead stick.

I honestly couldn't believe we called 2 fakes in one game.

I've seen that call before in an NFL game. It goes by the chain links though, not the pole. The chain is what is 10 yards long.

"I asked one of those other refs there. I said, 'You know the ball did not touch the first-down marker.' He said, 'I know it didn't.' I said, 'Well, why did he give it to them?' and he said, 'I don't know,'" Spurrier said.
 
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=330010130
 

The replacement refs had to find work somewhere 
 
Seriously, though after nearly 25 years of being involved in HS football I've seen far worse shenanigans by the chain crew and refs.
 
Like the time an opponent started a set downs at the 10 yd line (+1 foot) and somehow was awarded a first down at the 1 yard line after a measurement...I almost left the booth and ran down on the field.  
 
 

Colorado got 5 downs against Mizzu in 1900 on their way to the NC.

Go Blue!!

As soon as that play happened and they came back after the review (which I knew would be inconclusive due to the mass of humanity on the sidelines on the stretch for the first down), I told my buddy that the ball don't lie and karma would bite us in the rear.
 
Next play, Vincent had his helmet knocked into the loge section by Clowney.

Am I the only one who didn't think WE didn't get a good spot at the end of the play? I thought the ball was about 6 inches to a foot off...oh well

Personally, I thought we were getting jobbed by the refs all game long.  Some of the holding calls going against us were nothing compared to the holding USC's oline was getting away with.
 
Was there ever any official explaination as to why they gave us the 1st down when it clearly looked like we were short?
 
 

One of the worst calls I've ever seen...and looking back on it, I wish they would have just given the ball to the cocks and not botched the call. The football gods used karma and made up for it when Clowney crushed Smith giving the cocks all the momentum.

Go Blue!!

ScottsdaleBlue


Colorado got 5 downs against Mizzu in 1900 on their way to the NC.

Go Blue!!

 
1900.....what a year for football....LOL

Who could ever forget that 1900 play? 

WarrenWolverine


I've seen that call before in an NFL game. It goes by the chain links though, not the pole. The chain is what is 10 yards long.

if it was the chain links and not the buckle it was a good call. can anyone verify that to be true?

WolvyMike

ScottsdaleBlue


Colorado got 5 downs against Mizzu in 1900 on their way to the NC.

Go Blue!!

1900.....what a year for football....LOL

Oops...ha

The same year Blake Countess got suspended...LMAO

Go Blue!!

A similar situation happened in a 2009 NFL game. An NFL ref explains:
 
 

In a pool report, referee Walt Anderson said he stood by the measurement. He explained that "the ball has to penetrate the plane of the stake. The chains are set beside the football. So I get on the side and I'm looking straight in at that angle. If the nose of the ball touches the stake, it's a first down."
So how does he explain the photo, snapped off television, that indicated it was short?
"It depends on the angle you might be looking at," he said. "It touched the plane of the stake."

 
http://www.cleveland.com/..._measurement_give.html
 
 

Yes, the call was pretty bad.
BUT-shouldn't Spurrier have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for getting in the officials faces and throwing a hissy fit???? I recall Bo doing something similar in his last game after a BS holding call, and he got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Spurrier should have been penalized as well, and then Michigan WOULD have had a first down, for real. as for the subsequent play, i have never understood trying to run little Vincent Smith up the middle, he is not exactly Bronko Nagurski for crying out loud.

Philc


A similar situation happened in a 2009 NFL game. An NFL ref explains:

In a pool report, referee Walt Anderson said he stood by the measurement. He explained that "the ball has to penetrate the plane of the stake. The chains are set beside the football. So I get on the side and I'm looking straight in at that angle. If the nose of the ball touches the stake, it's a first down."
So how does he explain the photo, snapped off television, that indicated it was short?
"It depends on the angle you might be looking at," he said. "It touched the plane of the stake."

http://www.cleveland.com/..._measurement_give.html

 
I was wondering about this myself.  Every camera shot we saw here was from an angle ahead or behind the scene.  If the nose of the ball was indeed touching the spot on the chains that mark the 1st down post by barely enough, the angles we were seeing would not show the detail the ref saw.

true blue

WarrenWolverine


I've seen that call before in an NFL game. It goes by the chain links though, not the pole. The chain is what is 10 yards long.

if it was the chain links and not the buckle it was a good call. can anyone verify that to be true?

You're wrong.  The NCAA rule book clearly states it's stick to stick. 
 

Rule 1, Section 2, Article 7a of the NCAA Football Rulebook states:
"The yardage chain shall join two rods not fewer than 5 feet high, the rods' inside edges being exactly 10 yards apart when the chain is fully extended."
Furthermore, since Rule 5, Section 1, Article 2 says that the line to gain is exactly 10 yards from the leading edge of the ball, and the chain is exactly 10 yards from inside post to inside post, the inside of the farthest post is the line to gain.

Horrendous call that was rectified by clowney on the next play.