Northern Illinois's loss should have an asterisk next to it. The refs inexplicably ran down the clock with I think 2 seconds left when the Huskies should have been able to run one more play.
The clock ran down because the play was ruled a catch and the the runner fumbled the ball forward out of bounds. When the ball is fumbled forward out of bounds the clock starts on the ready. Moral of the story is hold onto the ball and they have that “other play”.
Thanks for the rule explanation.
According to the statement from the MAC Commissioner however it seems there were still two issues:
1. Following the reception along the sideline, the play should have been stopped for a review.
2. The center judge should have been allowed to clear the center before the referee wound the clock.
I provided a link above where you can watch the replay again and judge for yourself.
The MAC Commissioner does ZERO with the officiating? In fact, he does zero with officiating in the MAC contest. Point being, he does not know what should have been done. The commissioner for the MAC, was doing his job taking up for his conference. You've seen before in Bowl games if a conference associations crew screws up, they will address the mistake, or even the home association will address the error. Here, on the paid spokesperson of the league has a comment.
Replay in the NCAA looks at every play. Replay looked at that play, they gave a booth confirmation of the rule on the field, catch and fumble. And no, there is NO set perimeter for how far the CJ has to clear, it's not a 5yd, 10yd, rule or set. The CJ only holds for substitutions, other than substitution packages (which there were none on that play), the CJ spots the ball the Referee marks the ball ready.
Now if replay did shut this play down, it's likely in the opinion of many, that this would have been and incomplete pass and the game would have been over.
Last Edited: 1/5/2022 12:21:05 PM by BillyTheCat