ACC Suspends Entire Officiating Crew For Blown Calls In Saturday’s Miami/Duke Game

One of the players on the kickoff couldn’t even legally be in the play because he had two personal fouls in the game, and the film clearly shows there were 12 players on the field for Miami when they scored the winning touchdown. The only problem with the play is that the score should not have counted.

Many ACC coaches say a regular part of their postgame film breakdown includes identifying the calls they think were missed and sending video clips on to Dennis Hennigan, the ACC’s director of officials for football. Do not believe that anywhere in the rule book does it allow for this.

The Hurricanes made no apologies for their win, saying instead they hoped their performance in Durham was something they could build on as they look to close the season out with wins over their four remaining Coastal Division opponents.

Charles: This is tricky.

One of the wildest endings (in the non-marching band category) brought about the suspension of the officiating crew for two games because they so very badly botched the ending.

You have good crews, then there are the crews that get the job done, but dread follows the college officiating crews that can’t at times get things right. It isn’t clear if the flag was waived off because of the replay or if it was waived off due to a discussion with the other officials on the field that wasn’t announced until after the replay. “I wanted them to be ticky-tack to a T just so we can drive home the point of the penalties that we can control”.

The refs have turned down interview requests with USA Today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The Sporting Newsand many other media outlets; however, somewhat to my surprise, the refs did agree to a sit-down, taped, no-holds-barred interview with me.

The ACC claims the officials should have called a block in the back at Miami’s 16-yard line and that officials were wrong to pick up a flag on the block in the back call at the 26-yard line. Oh, yeah, it’s quiet all right – too quiet. I personally wouldn’t hire the review officials for another game and would make the on field crew earn their way back. The “Fail Mary” in 2012 between Seattle and Green Bay, the Dez Bryant catch that never was last season, the “phantom calls” during the Texas-Oklahoma State game earlier this year are just to name a few.

– They should have penalized Miami receiver Rashawn Scott for running onto the field before Elder crossed the goal line, though that dead-ball call would not have negated the touchdown. It’s the play itself. Both Blazing and Johnson have made three all-conference teams, and the two have combined for three All-America nods. “There were all sorts of issues that the conference has to resolve”, he said.

The ACC can suspend officials for such obvious errors, but Duke head coach David Cutcliffe says there should be a better way to hold officials accountable. “We remember what happened during the game and what happened with our (visitors’) locker room and practice field”. In an ideal and impartial and logical world, it never should have happened. Officials are always reviewed for the performance in games and mistakes are noted and impact the officials ratings which are used to determine who works conference championship games and bowl games and who is hired back the next year.

Make sure to tune in Saturday at 3PM and check back Sunday to see how these keys played out in the outcome of the game. In my opinion missing a call is one thing and is understandable but not being engaged in the play and not handling the overall situation in an appropriate manner is not acceptable.