On last question on the Cody FG play

One final thought on the Cody taking-his-helmet-off issue:

Just wondering, because I am not sure what the process is here:

What if the coaches in the Tennessee booth discovered that Alabama had 12 men on the field, and challenged the play (this can be done, using video evidence). It's not unprecedented for the officials to miss this; they did in an ASU-Georgia game last year in Tempe, when ASU had 12 defenders on the field for at least one play and it was undetected.

What if the challenge was upheld, and Tennessee got an untimed down? With no flag thrown on Cody, could the officials have retroactively penalized him for a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct, and marched off another 15 yards in additgion to the illegal participation penalty?

Or what if a linesman had thrown a flag for offsides? It's not unusual for a penalty flag dropped near the benches, on the perimeter, to go unnoticed for 30 seconds after the play until the official who made the call confers with the crew chief, especially when it's a play like that blocked field goal, which touched off a wild celebration on the field and on the Alabama sideline.

If often takes 15-30 seconds for such penalties to come to the attention of the crew chief. By then, the party was on.

Not trying to be a dick here; I'm just wondering because these are valid questions and I'm not an official so I don't know the process.

The PLAY was over, yes. But the GAME doesn't end until the officials are certain there are no relevant penalties on, or challenges to, the final play. No way was that ascertained when Cody ripped off his helmet.

That is why I think they should have thrown the flag, to cover their ass more than anything else should something out of the ordinary arisen. Once it was determined there were no other penalties, or no challenge, it could just be picked up and the infraction waved off, or simply enforced as a dead-ball foul from where the lastg play of the game was blown dead.

 

Too many what ifs. It's over.

 

Fred Merkle thought the game was over, too.

Just sayin, such possibilities are why the officials are supposed to follow proper procedure to the very end, so if something out of the ordinary happens, they're covered.

And I'm sure such scenarios have been considered in the wake of last Saturday's game.

 

Nebraska won a football game (and a National Championship) with five downs.

 

game/half can end on an offensive penalty. If the flag is on a defensive player, the offense is given one untimed down. Don't know if they can challenge the last play on video and change the outcome. (My speciality is in HS)

 

are you thinking of Colorado?

 

Merkle, eh?

So this could be Cody's Boner?

 

Yeah, but the point remains.

I think Nebraska won one on a kicked pass.

 

And that's exactly the reason the rules books are so thick, and so concise, because there are so many what-ifs? on every play. And why officiating evolves, and why good officials must always follow a process.

In the Alabama-Tennessee game, the final step of the process was overlooked. Luckily, it didn't come back to bite them. But at some point some time, with so many games every week, a situation like I've described will happen and hopefully the offricials will have done the right thing.


Had video review been available, both the Colorado 5 downs and Nebraska kicked pass TD probably would have been reviewed, and quite possibly reversed.

 

I don't have a rulebook in front of me but I don't think illegal participation is reviewable.

 

Dwayne Rudd asks WTF??

 

Both games were against Mizzou, too