Bobref

You are correct, but in speaking with the crew afterward, and reviewing that play, they felt that the contact on the QB occurred before his butt hit the turf on the slide, so they ruled it a live ball foul.

Not much doubt who the best player on the field is today.

You cannot grab either the facemask or a helmet opening. But there's no rule against grabbing the helmet itself. It is only when the helmet comes off because of illegal action by an opponent that he doesn't have to come out for one play.

Exact what we try to avoid.

Tanona is a beast!

So, I’m sitting here watching the teams warm up. I saw Zionsville in person last week and was tremendously impressed. They are really skilled. The teams took the field and my very first thought was, “My God, Cathedral looks big!”

Does he remind anyone else of Mark Hermann?

We all know errors are going to be made. At this point, I’m more interested in why the correct call was not made, and how we can get it right in the future. And I should point out that the terms “incorrect” and “bad” are not interchangeable when referring to officiating calls. Sometimes, even though everyone is right where he should be, looking at what they’re supposed to be looking at, you still don’t get a good enough look to feel really confident. But you’ve got to make a decision, so you weigh the evidence and go with what is most probably correct. But sometimes it’s not. A “bad” call is one that results from a mechanics error, incorrect application of officiating philosophy, or misinterpretation of a rule. The call on the TD at the linesman’s pylon in the south end zone was, IMO, an incorrect call. But it was not a “bad” call.

And if Jesus Christ were wearing them, you’d still rip him.

Only if he made the correct call.

Ummmm, I think if you’ll look back I said I thought it was a TD, but it is unrealistic to expect the linesman on a 5 man crew to be in the optimal position to make that call. It was not humanly possible. He is not going to be able to beat that kid to the pylon given where the snap took place. You may think the officials can see everything the camera does, but they can’t. Your unwillingness to acknowledge the very real shortcomings of a 5 man crew shows that you really don’t know as much about football as you think you do.

Not sure what else I can say other than it was an error, and how is that “sticking up” for anyone? And you have no idea what my expectations for the officials are.

Yeah, that’s what the word “error” means.

The line judge was not in the correct position to see it well. Mechanical error. Since he didn’t see it well, he correctly applied the “when in doubt” and ruled it an incomplete pass.

Really exciting game. I hope that sets the pattern for the weekend. Pretty good game by the officiating crew, too. I hope that's also a pattern.

I’m sitting with several other observers evaluating the crew and making notes for the postgame debriefing. Somehow, that has managed to escape a half dozen of us.

You must be joking.

I called it from the pressbox.

I haven't seen anything I thought was unusual. Of course, I'm in the pressbox.

I didn't think so either. I thought the contact started on the side and contact was continuous, although it ended up on the back. That's not a foul.

It could also mean that the ball crossed the sideline at the 2 while the player was airborne, and that he first returned to the ground out of bounds.

Some part of the ball would have to pass over some part of the pylon before he touched down out of bounds for it to be a score. Keep in mind that this was a 20 yd. run or so. There's no way the Head Linesman could get to the pylon to get a close look at this play. One of the problems of 5 man crews.

Neither did the Head Linesman. 🤣

Lutheran answers. 14-7 5:03 of the 1st. Going to get a lot of chances to review this crew's free kick mechanics, looks like.

An airborne ball carrier must have the ball inside any part of the pylon when it crosses. A runner must cross inside the pylon, even if the ball is outside the pylon. The pylon is considered out of bounds in the end zone. So if you touch the pylon, you've broken the plane of the goal line.