Controversial calls correct, BUT Carolina-Tennessee game could cause historic rule changes…

Who knows if all the controversy surrounding the North Carolina-Tennessee game at the Music City Bowl will change the course of college football history, but it is a certainty that in the future, rule changes will be made that will effect the future of college football, after what happened at the end of the Tar Heels-Vols game….By speaking out, we have all been a part of influencing the future of the college game….

from www.espn.com:

NEW YORK — The national coordinator for college football officials said Friday the controversial calls in the Music City and New Era Pinstripe bowls were correct, but added the chaotic end to the North Carolina-Tennessee game will lead the NCAA rules committee to consider a rule change.

The Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl went to overtime after North Carolina was penalized for illegal substitution on what looked like the final play. Tennessee had already started celebrating the victory, but game officials walked off the 5-yard penalty and replay officials put a second back on the clock. That gave the Tar Heels enough time to kick a tying field goal.

North Carolina eventually won 30-27 in double overtime.

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23 thoughts on “Controversial calls correct, BUT Carolina-Tennessee game could cause historic rule changes…

  1. Still have no idea why people are getting so worked up about the ending to that game. Yates spiked the ball with one second left. It was reviewed by the replay officials and they determined that one second was on the clock when he spiked the ball. Therefore, there would be one more play.
    The fact that Carolina had too many men on the field resulted in the ball being moved back five yards. THE PENALTY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH RUNNING ONE MORE PLAY. THE PENALTY DID NOT EXTEND THE GAME!!!!!!
    It’s almost as if some of the people commenting on this have not watched the ending of the game and are making uninformed assumptions about it. Bizarre.

  2. From what I am reading and by what I was hearing on the game broadcast on 94.4FM with Woody, Rick and Jones A., what the Heels did was wrong, but the current rules say they were in the right….

    The officials will now change this rule because they realize there is a major need for a change/correction….The way the rule reads now is not correct and it must be corrected/changed so the rule and the game will be correct in the future….The rule and the game need to be run the same way, apprehendibly…..

    We are just trying to do what they in basketball with the free throw follow-through…We need to do the follow-up or follow-through while this is still a very hot topic and it is….

    Was this a bogus win for North Carolina? Under the old rule NO, but with the adjusted or new rule, when it goes into place:YES……

  3. I believe the only way to correct what happened would be to institute a 10-sec runoff or something. Even Yates said “We got lucky” in terms of the rules, but the ball was spiked with one second left after a time management debacle in the last 16 seconds. A win is a win. The NCAA may change it’s ruling but we won that game fair. As I mentioned earlier, Tennessee had chances in the OTs to win the game. If Tennessee was the better team, they certainly wouldn’t have been relying on running clock (the defender staying on the RB running off 2-3 secs. WHAT?) UNC posted the better stats. Period. And they won in what is currently the best bowl game this season.

  4. Maybe a great bowl game for a UNC fan. Not for a UT fan (lol).

    Looking forward to the rule change and the time when my rediculous neighbor will stop driving around in his eco friendly golf cart and waving his UNC flag for two days straight, what a dweeb.

  5. Andy,
    To what rule are you referring? Be specific. What rule needs to be corrected? Being able to spike the ball to stop the clock with one second left?

  6. Well, for one thing Big Deal, go read the NCAA rulebook on this. The penalty should have been illegal participation which is 15 yards. Too many men were on the field when the play occurred. Look it up. Next, when they reset the clock 2 plays before the clock read 25 seconds yet the refs reset the clock to 26 seconds. It is possible they would not have gotten the play off. third, when the refs reset the ball at 1 second they did not stand over the ball (as you do after a penalty) giving the defense time to sub if they chose. Not sure any of it matters. Kicker may have made it from 10 more yards back. Good for the ACC to get a win.

  7. According to Rick Steinbacher on the broadcast it came back to a proper call of North Carolina having too many men on the field and they should have never had the alloted time to spike the ball….The time should have run out without North Carolina having time to spike the ball and stop the clock….With the too many men on the field the clock should have run out, but time was stopped and when they checked the review video and decided that 1 second should still be on the clock….

    With the too many men on the field penelty rule properly enforced the game should have been over….There would not have been time for one more play…

    It is still very confusing and I can’t wait to see the new rule clarified…..I was very impressed with the work that Rick Steinbacher did as the analyst on this game….In my opinion he may be the best radio analyst in the entire ACC….

    Rick was saying that the Tar Heels looked very confused and that Yates was about ready to call a play and that the holder was right beside him on the field and the kicking team was running out there….North Carolina very confused according to Rick and he made it sound like they had no idea what they were doing out there and that the Heels in no small terms looked stupid….He was saying this is stupid and it is messed up……

    It was like Rick was saying that the Tar Heels didn’t deserve to win this game….Rick did some of the best work that I have ever heard in breaking down the review of the plays…..North Carolina had already called a play after a completed pass and it might have been a reviewable play, but Rick said you can not review the previous play when a new play has already been initiated by the offensive team….

    Rick Steinbacher broke down the rule and I was shocked and some ways stunned, I had never heard anyone do such a good job as he did explaining that replay rule and when you could use it and how it could and could not be used….To a listener depending on the call of the game from the broadcasters, Rick was outstanding….Again, I was shocked and stunned at well this young man knew the information…He informed me and he sold me on the fact that he knows what he is talking about…..

    Steinbacher is the best for my money and when he said that North Carolina didn’t really deserve to win this game, then I bought that too….

    Rick said once North Carolina was called for having too many men on the field on that last play, that the officials should have started the clock, let the time run out and game over…..You don’t get to run another play……The rule change applies to the fact that North Carolina had too many men on the field and they did not get them off in the allotted time and the game should have been over….No time should have been put back on that clock……There should not have been one second put on the clock, there was no time left to spike the ball and there should not have been a field goal allowed….

    I’m sure there will still be a lot of confusion over that last play being allowed, but with new rules or a new rule in place, if you get called for having too many men on the field in that situation in the future the game will be over and they will not be putting time back on the clock……

    Steinbacher is the man we should be talking to, because this man knows that rule book inside and out and he is the best analyst in the ACC for football…..

    I’m glad we have the other Rick from Tennesse coming in here and I hope his neighbor will back on those golf cart trips, but does anyone have Rick Steinbacher’s #, we need to get him in here…..I have even seen the game, I’m going by what Rick was saying on the radio and he said North Carolina looked very confused and he knew that rule back inside and out….I need to take a look at that Bruce Mitchell video link and see if it is conclusive……

    We need to call the new rule, “The Rick Steinbacher Rule”……And I hope I am spelling this guys last name right/correct…….

  8. Very good info from The Deal Is….Too many men on the field/Illegal participation would have a definite outcome on the game in a situation like we see here, when the rule is updated/changed…..

  9. @the big deal is The refs did not handle the clock well all night. I’ll give you the fact that maybe it should have been only 25 secs but you cannot talk about the last penalty without talking about the non-called late hit two plays before. We get that penalty called and maybe we don’t run the ball. Again, the refs were going by the book and maybe the rules need to be changed, but at the end of the day the score of the 2010 Music City Bowl will remain UNC 30 UT 27 F/2OT. This wasn’t the national championship. It was a lower-tier bowl between a (7-5) team and a (6-6) team. Way too much criticism from one game and not one mention of the weak sauce penalty called in the Pinstripe Bowl. Ugh.

  10. One more thought on this game that I found over at http://www.wralsportsfan.com and this does a very good job of summarizing the situation:

    David Parry, who oversees college football officiating for the NCAA, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the Big Ten officials handled the confusing final seconds properly.

    “The issue that’s going to come up is the team that made the mistake by having the illegal substitution ended up getting the benefit from the rule,” he said.

    Parry said NFL rules allow for 10 seconds to be run off the clock on some late-game penalties and he said college football might consider adopting a similar rule.

    “It was handled correctly, but I do anticipate the rules committee, which meets in the middle of February, to have that on their agenda for discussions,” he said.

    I’m going to leave it at that, call Bradley Faircloth and I’ll back here tomorrow……

  11. “The issue that’s going to come up is the team that made the mistake by having the illegal substitution ended up getting the benefit from the rule,” he said.
    —The only thing that I don’t like about the quote above is that we didn’t benefit from the penalty. We benefited from spiking the ball with 1 second left, and referees can review for clock adjustments (they did that several times throughout the night). There was WAY TOO MUCH CHAOS at the end to not review. The referee should have reviewed the play before declaring it over. I think that is what stirred up the controversy. The ESPN presentation even said Final with UNC and Tenn having records of (7-6) because of the refs. So in theory, UNC lost then tied and eventually won. But, the refs got it right by the current rulebook and they can change the rule later. UNC 30 UT 27 F/2OT.

  12. So Andy,

    Given what David Parry has said … are your above dissertation and possible canonization Steinbacher now incorrect? Or is this just another insidious Tarheel plan to rule the world?

  13. UNC fan,
    Exactly the point I have been attempting to make. Andy, the officials did not stop the clock and call a penalty. The clock ran out just as Yates spiked the ball. Why do so many people think the officials stopped the game due to too many men on the field, and that Carolina benefitted from it. That did not happen. The clock ran out. They reviewed it to see if Yates got the ball spiked in time. He did. They penalized Carolina for having too many men on the field. The ball was moved back, one second put back on the clock BECAUSE YATES HAD SPIKED THE BALL WITH ONE SECOND LEFT, and Barth kicked the field goal.
    This is the most ridiculous “controversy” I have ever seen.
    And by the way, Andy, you are slobbering about Rick Steinbacher because he was supported your anti-Carolina argument. He had not had time to know the full story at that point.

  14. UNC fan, the late hit was not called because #49 (pretty sure it was 49) for UNC blocked the UT player into the ballcarrier. Replay shows it very clearly. All in all, still good for the ACC. ACC can use all the positive news it can get.

  15. UNC had too many men on the field which is a 5 yard penalty. The ball was spiked with 1 second remaining, that’s why time went back on the clock. Ask TN loving announcer Bob Davie – even he saw it. As Lou Holtz explained, it wasn’t illegal participation and 15 yards because the players weren’t participating in the play, they were running around trying to figure out where they should be. Time wasn’t put back on the clock because of the penalty.

  16. With all slobbering aside, I think we have the answer/solution for the Tar Heel football team when Woody does step down….Wes can stay in Atlanta, he’s probably making more money there than he would in Chapel Hill any way with Ga Tech and the Atlanta Falcons and for the Heels, bring back Mick Mixon and team him up with Rick Steinbacher…….

    Mick and Rick on the stick(microphone)…..That would be a great football broadcast team with two North Carolina grads and then in basketball you would have Eric Montross and Mick….Montross and Mick, a very good pick……

    What do the rest of you think????? Maybe something good has come out of this discussion in a round-about way……

    The North Carolina Tar Heels radio team:
    Mick and Rick(football)
    Mick and Montross(football)

    You have to think that if Mick had his pick, he would pick the college play-by-play for the school he hails from and it could turn the trick if Rick is with Mick…..Makes for a good schtick….

    Mick Mixon returns to the Hill……..Hollar Heels if you hear me!!!!!

  17. And for Jones Angell, the Heels could keep him in the booth and use him like the Carolina Panthers do Jim Szoke….Angell, very insightful and he help form a solid three-man booth……..Mixon knows how to work his cohorts into the broadcast…..

  18. Andy,
    Rick Steinbacher is the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing at UNC. The football announcing is a very part-time thing for him, as he has a significant and full-time job in the athletic department. He will be looking for a bigger role, such as being an AD, either at Carolina or some other school.
    If Carolina really wanted to upset some PC and ABC fans, they would put Deems May in the booth.

  19. So I think we can all agree that the Tar Hells won the game only because of a rule so grossly unfair that the college football powers want to immediately change it.

  20. Bruce – I hope the powers to be that want this rule changed are not the powers to be that let a Dad shop his won around for $180,000 or the ones that let Alabama`s Darius only serve a 2 game suspension when he attended the same party as the unc kids with benefits, or the one`s that had known since the 2009 season that 5 Ohio State players were involve with ncaa infractions only to not sit out a single game over a year later, you get my point.

    Am I the only one that feels this shouldn`t ever had come to this conclusion with the game ending debacle, Dwight Jones was hit so LATE on the Tenn 25 yard line that minimumly should have been unc`s ball @ the Tenn 12 yard line 1st and 10 with :16 seconds to play. Everything else should have been irrelevant.

    Let the Bray throat slashing begin!

  21. Or the powers that be which brought us the BCS and a JAn 8? national championship game?

    Are there any rules in college football that run time off the clock at this time? It will be interesting to see how the NCAA moves on this. Again, the clock wasnt stopped by the penalty… it was stopped by the spike of the ball. I think, maybe.

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