Worst college football calls of 2010

[Surfah]

BYU makes the list. Twice. At #1.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...n=ncaaf-306866

[TripletDaddy]

Interesting that they consider the Ute victory to be the worst blown call of the season. Obviously this shows that the media and football fans across the country consider BYU to be the real winner.

[oxcoug]

Interesting that they consider the Ute victory to be the worst blown call of the season. Obviously this shows that the media and football fans across the country consider BYU to be the real winner.

"Bradley was clearly down with possession of the ball after making the pick..."

Open and shut. Utah 10-3*.

Wait make that - Utah 10-3**.

[BoylenOver]

You BYU fans care even less about this game now than you did 30 minutes after it ended. No small feat.

[Art Vandelay]

You BYU fans care even less about this game now than you did 30 minutes after it ended. No small feat.

Yet we love Jake even more. I plan to start The Official Jakephilia thread any day now.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Yet we love Jake even more. I plan to start The Official Jakephilia thread any day now.

Check with his publicist, I am sure they have some good stuff to get you started.

[Blueintheface]

Check with his publicist, I am sure they have some good stuff to get you started.

ESPN was unavailable for comment.

[Eddie]

You learn something new every day.

Today I learned that the third quarter is late in the game, as this call that was in the third quarter is reported to have extended a "late touchdown drive".

Do the coaches know this? You would think more coaches would start their two minute offense sooner if they knew that the third quarter was late in the game.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The Dilugi non-fumble was much, much worse than the Bradley call. Even though I think Bradley was down, the video evidence doesn't demonstrably prove that the ball wasn't coming out before his knee came down. It's likely that it wasn't coming out, IMO, but the Ute defender's body obscures the best image.

[statman]

The SDSU call was the RIGHT call. The whistle had blown the play dead. In the past this would have barred any review. Ball dead. Offense retains ball.

There was a rule change in 2009 (8?) that allowed such calls to be reviewed in very specific circumstances (the rule and the discussion about the rule says something to the effect that the fumbled ball must bounce immediately to the hands of a defender, ie - the ball can't be loose on the ground where the whistle blowing the play dead could stop someone from diving for it. The ball has to go immediately to the defender where there is no question that the bad whistle changed the outcome of who recovered it).

The ball was clearly fumbled and the ball ended up on the ground, but BYU retains the ball because of the whistle and because the narrow circumstances to overturn it simply were not met...

[PaloAltoCougar]

The SDSU call was the RIGHT call. The whistle had blown the play dead. In the past this would have barred any review. Ball dead. Offense retains ball.

There was a rule change in 2009 (8?) that allowed such calls to be reviewed in very specific circumstances (the rule and the discussion about the rule says something to the effect that the fumbled ball must bounce immediately to the hands of a defender, ie - the ball can't be loose on the ground where the whistle blowing the play dead could stop someone from diving for it. The ball has to go immediately to the defender where there is no question that the bad whistle changed the outcome of who recovered it).

The ball was clearly fumbled and the ball ended up on the ground, but BYU retains the ball because of the whistle and because the narrow circumstances to overturn it simply were not met...

This is exactly what I thought at the time, but I haven't seen it mentioned much. It was clearly a fumble, but the whistle blew and the purpose of the rule, I assume, is that it takes into account that some players, having heard the whistle, wouldn't pursue the fumble and it would be unfair to award it to those who do. It's too bad the refs were hasty with the whistle, but them's the rules.... I'm open to a rebuttal, but I think this is correct.

[old_gregg]

The SDSU call was the RIGHT call. The whistle had blown the play dead. In the past this would have barred any review. Ball dead. Offense retains ball.

There was a rule change in 2009 (8?) that allowed such calls to be reviewed in very specific circumstances (the rule and the discussion about the rule says something to the effect that the fumbled ball must bounce immediately to the hands of a defender, ie - the ball can't be loose on the ground where the whistle blowing the play dead could stop someone from diving for it. The ball has to go immediately to the defender where there is no question that the bad whistle changed the outcome of who recovered it).

The ball was clearly fumbled and the ball ended up on the ground, but BYU retains the ball because of the whistle and because the narrow circumstances to overturn it simply were not met...

that's my story and i'm stickin' to it.

[Top Ute]

The SDSU call was the RIGHT call prior to 2009 (8?). The whistle had blown the play dead. In the past this would have barred any review. Ball dead. Offense retains ball.

There was a rule change in 2009 (8?) that allowed such calls to be reviewed in very specific circumstances (the rule and the discussion about the rule says something to the effect that the fumbled ball must bounce immediately to the hands of a defender, ie - the ball can't be loose on the ground where the whistle blowing the play dead could stop someone from diving for it. The ball has to go immediately to the defender where there is no question that the bad whistle changed the outcome of who recovered it).

The ball was clearly fumbled and the ball ended up on the ground, but BYU retains the ball because of the whistle and because the narrow circumstances to overturn it simply were not met...

I fixed the first part for you. As for the second, you need to read the rulebook, which says a whistle cannot keep a play from being overturned if there is continuous action, which there clearly was in the SDSU instance. Where the ball ends up has nothing to do with it. It's all about continuous action, which the whistle can no longer supercede.

Give it up already. You benefitted once from a ref's horrible call, and got penalized for it another time. BYU hit .500 in bad replay decisions, and deserved that success rate.

[Top Ute]

The SDSU call was the RIGHT call. The whistle had blown the play dead. In the past this would have barred any review. Ball dead. Offense retains ball.

There was a rule change in 2009 (8?) that allowed such calls to be reviewed in very specific circumstances (the rule and the discussion about the rule says something to the effect that the fumbled ball must bounce immediately to the hands of a defender, ie - the ball can't be loose on the ground where the whistle blowing the play dead could stop someone from diving for it. The ball has to go immediately to the defender where there is no question that the bad whistle changed the outcome of who recovered it).

The ball was clearly fumbled and the ball ended up on the ground, but BYU retains the ball because of the whistle and because the narrow circumstances to overturn it simply were not met...

From the 2009 NCAA Rules Committee, changes enacted in that year:

Dead Ball and Loose Ball
ARTICLE 3. Reviewable plays involving potential dead balls and loose balls include:
a. Loose ball by a potential passer ruled a fumble
1. If the ruling is forward pass, the play is reviewable only if there is clear recovery of a loose ball in the immediate continuing action following the loose ball.
b. Live ball not ruled dead in possession of a runner.
c. Live ball ruled dead in possession of a runner when the clear recovery of a loose ball occurs in the immediate continuing action following the loose ball.
1. If the ball is ruled dead and the replay official does not have indisputable video evidence as to which team recovers, the dead-ball ruling stands.
2. If the replay official rules that the ball was not dead, it belongs to the recovering team at the spot of the recovery and any advance is nullified.

There is nothing in the rulebook that says anything about what you're saying regarding the whistle or the place on the field where the ball is recovered. It's all about "immediate continuous action," of which there was plenty following the fumble. This is a textbook example of how the whistle no longer blows the play dead automatically.

[PaloAltoCougar]

From the 2009 NCAA Rules Committee, changes enacted in that year:

Dead Ball and Loose Ball
ARTICLE 3. Reviewable plays involving potential dead balls and loose balls include:
a. Loose ball by a potential passer ruled a fumble
1. If the ruling is forward pass, the play is reviewable only if there is clear recovery of a loose ball in the immediate continuing action following the loose ball.
b. Live ball not ruled dead in possession of a runner.
c. Live ball ruled dead in possession of a runner when the clear recovery of a loose ball occurs in the immediate continuing action following the loose ball.
1. If the ball is ruled dead and the replay official does not have indisputable video evidence as to which team recovers, the dead-ball ruling stands.
2. If the replay official rules that the ball was not dead, it belongs to the recovering team at the spot of the recovery and any advance is nullified.

There is nothing in the rulebook that says anything about what you're saying regarding the whistle or the place on the field where the ball is recovered. It's all about "immediate continuous action," of which there was plenty following the fumble. This is a textbook example of how the whistle no longer blows the play dead automatically.

I went back and looked at the video, hoping from a BYU fan's perspective that there wasn't "immediate continuous action," i.e., that one or more players had given up on the play. Sadly, I didn't see it, and in view of the rule I now conclude the replay ref screwed up. But because (a) I don't care much for the new rule, and (b) any call that goes BYU's way is ultimately good and right, I'm willing to accept the erroneous result.