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CHARLOTTE – North Carolina cut the deficit against Clemson to just eight points, 45-37, courtesy of a Marquise Williams to Ryan Switzer touchdown pass. There was still 1:13 remaining in the ACC championship game and Carolina had three timeouts.
If the Heels got the onside kick, anything was possible. Not just here for a league title, but in the balance of the College Football Playoff – it could push No. 1 Clemson out or elevate either Stanford or North Carolina or maybe even Ohio State in.
One onside kick with so much on the line, the whole nation watching.
Freeman Jones booted it left. It bounced twice and slammed into Clemson's Zac Brooks, who couldn't handle it. It squirted back to the middle of the field and in the chaos where Carolina's Hunter Crafford fell on it.
Bang, first-and-10, everything still alive and if you don't think hopes soared from Ohio to California … flag.
Offside. Carolina.
Except along came television replays and the Heels not only weren't offside they weren't even close to being offside. Video and still shots showed all 11 Carolina players were well behind the 35-yard line.
Down on the field, though, the Heels were hit with a five-yard penalty and were forced to re-kick. Clemson recovered it this time and four plays later ran the clock out. The Tigers (13-0) will be the No. 1 seed when the playoff field is announced Sunday. Alabama, Oklahoma and Michigan State will join them in some order. UNC (11-2) will head to a lower tier bowl game.
In an ACC season memorable for officiating disasters, here was the latest, and one of the most significant not just in the league, but this time reverberating across the country.
"They got it wrong," UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said afterward outside the Tar Heels locker room. "You had the chance to get the last possession and deservedly we should have gotten one."
Cunningham said the Carolina sideline knew immediately the call was wrong because the coaches up in the booth saw the replay and relayed it down. Cunningham said he didn't know if the play could be overturned on replay so he asked a sideline official.
"I didn't know if it was reviewable or not, I asked and he said it was," Cunningham said. "The guy on the sideline told me it was reviewable, the guy standing there with an ear piece said it was reviewable."
Was it? Because a replay would certainly show there was no penalty.
"I don't know," Cunningham said.
According to the ACC, offside is not a reviewable call. Dennis Hennigan, the league’s coordinator of football officiating, said via the public relations staff, that “mechanically” the referees were in the proper spot. “An official saw a member of the kicking team break the plain [of the 35 yard line] before the ball was kicked.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/controv...718-ncaaf.html
If the Heels got the onside kick, anything was possible. Not just here for a league title, but in the balance of the College Football Playoff – it could push No. 1 Clemson out or elevate either Stanford or North Carolina or maybe even Ohio State in.
One onside kick with so much on the line, the whole nation watching.
Freeman Jones booted it left. It bounced twice and slammed into Clemson's Zac Brooks, who couldn't handle it. It squirted back to the middle of the field and in the chaos where Carolina's Hunter Crafford fell on it.
Bang, first-and-10, everything still alive and if you don't think hopes soared from Ohio to California … flag.
Offside. Carolina.
Except along came television replays and the Heels not only weren't offside they weren't even close to being offside. Video and still shots showed all 11 Carolina players were well behind the 35-yard line.
Down on the field, though, the Heels were hit with a five-yard penalty and were forced to re-kick. Clemson recovered it this time and four plays later ran the clock out. The Tigers (13-0) will be the No. 1 seed when the playoff field is announced Sunday. Alabama, Oklahoma and Michigan State will join them in some order. UNC (11-2) will head to a lower tier bowl game.
In an ACC season memorable for officiating disasters, here was the latest, and one of the most significant not just in the league, but this time reverberating across the country.
"They got it wrong," UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said afterward outside the Tar Heels locker room. "You had the chance to get the last possession and deservedly we should have gotten one."
Cunningham said the Carolina sideline knew immediately the call was wrong because the coaches up in the booth saw the replay and relayed it down. Cunningham said he didn't know if the play could be overturned on replay so he asked a sideline official.
"I didn't know if it was reviewable or not, I asked and he said it was," Cunningham said. "The guy on the sideline told me it was reviewable, the guy standing there with an ear piece said it was reviewable."
Was it? Because a replay would certainly show there was no penalty.
"I don't know," Cunningham said.
According to the ACC, offside is not a reviewable call. Dennis Hennigan, the league’s coordinator of football officiating, said via the public relations staff, that “mechanically” the referees were in the proper spot. “An official saw a member of the kicking team break the plain [of the 35 yard line] before the ball was kicked.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/controv...718-ncaaf.html