I'm watching Fox 8 Cleveland news this Sunday morning, and the sports report showed the field goal attempt, with the reporter stating that the Ohio Bobcats were given a gift as the refs blew the call, then stating that ISU lost by three points. According to them, no doubt about it. I beg to differ, as has been discussed previously here.
If you are standing directly below the post, looking up, it will be very clear which side of the goal post the ball went on. From any other view, a 2-dimensional perspective will be uncertain, except for one. If you are directly behind the ball, so the that, as the ball flies, it remains stationary on the screen, you will also be able to see where the flight is with relation to the goal post. On any 2-dimensional picture where the ball is moving laterally on the screen, there is simply no way to tell, and that is why this is not reviewable.
I have watched the video multiple times, and it doesn't look good to me. I see plenty of pictures of the ESPN video frozen at the 18 second mark, where the ball is right of the upright (inside it), but the ball is clearly not to the upright yet. In fact, if you continue to watch the video, at the 18.5 second mark, the ball is actually behind the upright, so that picture frozen at 18 seconds was clearly too early. As you get closer to the 19 second mark, the ball is above the upright, then by 19 seconds, it is to the left of the upright. At what point in time was the ball at the plane of the upright? On a 2-dimensional shot, there is no way to know for sure. My best guess is that it was at the 19 second mark, when the ball is clearly to the left of the upright (outside). At best it could have been a shade earlier, and the ball could have traveled directly over the upright, in which case I'm not sure if it should be ruled good or not. The one thing I can say for sure is that the photo you see with the ball to the right of the upright is deceptive, because the ball clearly is behind the upright a split second later, so it was not at the plane of the upright at the time of that frozen frame.
The referee did not hesitate. He watched the ball, then decisively made his call. I have no reason to question it, and the video certainly does not give me a reason to think he was incorrect. At best, the video shows that it was a very close call.
Whether the call was right or not is irrelevant. Unlike the notorious fifth down that CMU got vs Okla St a few years ago, this was a judgement call by the ref. In this case, the ref's judgement was that the kick was not good. End of story. It doesn't change the fact that Ohio played a helluva defensive game and deserves the win. They shut down ISU for 55 minutes and produced a 41-pt swing from last year's loss. And the offense managed to hold onto the ball for the first time this season Now let's hope they don't have a letdown vs BG next week.
This seemed to be the consensus on the ISU board. They thought that it was probably good, but that it didn't change the fact that Ohio outplayed ISU, and they were not happy at all about the fact that Ohio did outplay ISU.
Last Edited: 9/17/2023 8:43:38 AM by L.C.