Bobref

Somebody has to.

I also think they should have a retired official in the booth to lend expertise when needed. Hopefully at some obscene rate of compensation. 😉

I urge you to contact the IHSAA and report that there were "five schools that voted for us that we have never ever been to or officiated." That is not supposed to happen. If every crew that had this happen to them reported it to the IHSAA, perhaps they would be a little more aggressive in policing the schools in this regard.

It's not appropriate to call out an official by name on this site. And when the whistle blew in relation to the flag is meaningless in this situation. The foul either occurred before or after the ball was dead. That's the only thing that matters, and the timing of the whistle and the flag don't change that. I thought the contact was after the ball was dead, the covering official thought otherwise. The video will not lie.

The clock stops for a first down. If the ball was down inbounds, the R starts the game clock as soon as the box is set, he doesn't wait for the chains. I agree that this particular Referee gets the clock restarted very quickly following a first down. I gave him an upgrade in the postgame debrief for that. Always want to keep the game moving.

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.