ACC officiating coordinator Doug Rhoads said today that Ron Cherry's officiating crew handled the spot of the ball correctly on a key fourth-down play during the final minute of Maryland's 38-31 defeat of N.C. State on Saturday.
The play has caused controversy because the N.C. State defense appeared to stop running back D.J. Adams short of the first-down marker on a rush on a fourth-and-1 at the N.C. State 32-yard line.
But the officials gave Adams what appeared to be a generous spot of the ball, and coach Tom O'Brien was visibly frustrated when the officials' measurement showed Adams gained the first down that clinched the win for Maryland with 48 seconds left.
"The play is handled correctly as well as can be done by human beings," Rhoads said this morning in a telephone interview.
Rhoads said the line judge and head linesman ran in hard like they're supposed to after the play to mark the spot of the ball when Adams was stopped. He said on short-yardage plays where many large bodies are present, it's difficult to determine the spot of the ball.
The officials estimated as accurately as possible where the forward-most point of the ball was, according to Rhoads. He said the TV replay official did review the spot, and the first governing principle of replay reviews is the presumption that the call on the field is correct.
"The standard to overturn or reverse that is very high," Rhoads said. "That’s irrefutable video evidence. And I personally looked at the video of that, and you cannot ascertain the forward-most point of the ball, and it’s obscured because of all the bodies in there."
Had Adams been ruled short of the first down, N.C. State would have taken possession at its own 32-yard line with 48 seconds remaining, trailing by seven points. Although the Wolfpack didn't have any timeouts remaining, there would have been time to attempt to work quickly to get the ball down the field for a tying touchdown.
O'Brien declined to comment this morning about the call. Immediately after the game, he refrained from second guessing the officials.
"It sure looked like [we stopped them] from where we were and we were right on the chains," O'Brien said Saturday night. ". . .[The call] was confirmed, so I guess it wasn't a stop. We thought we had him stopped, but my opinion doesn't count."
Ken Tysiac
Monday, November 29, 2010
ACC refs' boss says Pack call handled correctly
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6 comments:
I am the Biggest UNC fan in the World and Hate NC State, they (State) got cheated stop twisting around , its called Ron Cherryd......
As a Pack fan, Ron Cherry "gave us the business".
I, too, am a Carolina fan. State definitely stopped the guy from getting the first down. It is difficult to even speculate as to whether State would have scored or not, but I can understand their frustrations for sure. I guess this is why coaches tell their players that they cannot get into positions to leave it up to the officials...
Pack fan here. NC STATE had so many opportunities that it shouldn't have come down to the final call. That said, the ACC lacks all thought in having their lead guy say, "who knows because of all the bodies in there" and then onto "we did only what humans can do." It's for the ACC championship. The guy was stopped. Point blank. Everyone saw it. Ron Cherry runs up quick and inexplicably points first down after looking at it at an angle?!?! Remember, video evidence has to be 110% right to make the play overturned.
I won't even start on the first Maryland interception where number 8 had his hand inside the PACK WRs collar.
Lots of very questionable calls, but in the end the State players had every chance.
As long as the ACC continues to employ these ragtag idiots like Ron Cherry and "his boss" we will never be respected in the college ranks.
Cherry can barely speak and is in charge of a game that cost a school millions of dollars.
wonder how much Ron Cherry was paid to miss that call or the other calls in this game. another question can be who paid him?
the guy was STOPPED behind the fuckin line. State got cheated so bad...fucking disgrace...
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