VTTW Board Index

Before I begin my rant, let me say that I have no clue whether the officiating crew for last night's game was an SEC crew, though I would assume they were.

Anyhow, I was pretty disappointed with the way SEC officials handled replay situations last year, and this year hasn't started off right, as far as I'm concerned.

1.) Why wasn't the safety reviewed? From my vantage point, it looked like the football broke the plane of the goal line, which is all it has to do to avoid a safety. I haven't watched a replay, so I have no idea if that was the case, but it was at least close enough for a review.

2.) On the third down sideline catch that Dooley challenged, why wasn't there an automatic review without Tennessee having to waste a timeout? It was very close.

3.) Poole's dive for the pylon in the fourth quarter...again, from my vantage point, that looked like a clear touchdown. And on the jumbotron replay, it appeared to be a touchdown, too. But, again, I haven't watched the replay so I may be totally wrong. The officials DID automatically review that one. I just felt like they got it wrong.

But #3 is really neither here nor there. My main beef is with the inconsistencies in what is reviewed and what isn't reviewed. I realize every play is looked at in the booth by the replay official. But if the goal is to take a closer, more extended look at these close calls, what's the criteria for doing so? It seems to me that too much is left up to the discretion of the replay official. If close calls are going to be reviewed, then review them. Otherwise, forget the "automatic" replay and increase the number of challenges each coach is allowed.

It was an SEC crew
1) I believe that the entire ball has to be on the field of play, i.e. if any part of the ball is on the goalline it is a safety (Approved Ruling 8-5-1
I. A10, after receiving the snap in his own end zone, is downed with
the ball resting on his goal line, its forward point being in the field of
play. RULING: Safety. A part of the dead ball is on the ball carrier’s
goal line.)

3) I thought real time he was OB and the in stadium replay seemed to bear that out.  I thought it a good call. 

You're probably right about #1. I had it reversed; I was thinking the rule stated the entire ball had to be behind the goal line for it to be a safety. And you're probably right about #3 as well; as I said, I haven't watched the telecast.

Either way, that still doesn't change things. Why review some close calls and not others? I'm just not a fan of the way replays are conducted.

You got that right!

For no 2, I believe Tim Priest said during the broadcast that it was to ensure the replay crew had time to function.  The thought was that the Montana hurry-up put time pressure on the review crew and Dooley wanted to ensure they had time to review.  Not claiming I understand it, just repeating what I heard.

After the review, the referee said Tennessee was charged with a timeout. So it was definitely counted as Dooley's one allotted challenge.