[TH Spangler]

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... terference

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has lashed out at ACC officials following his team's dramatic loss to Florida State Saturday night......

I think they got a very bad call.

[BJWilliams]

I would have to see video of the play in question to be able to answer for certain.

[thepostman]

It was the right call. Took balls to call it that late. Explain why they got it wrong.

[LUGrad2000]

Correct call. The receivers were run blocking. Would have been a legal play if the ball was thrown behind the line of scrimmage.

[adam42381]

No. It was the right call. I hate FSU, but it was the right call.

[Purple Haize]

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... terference

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has lashed out at ACC officials following his team's dramatic loss to Florida State Saturday night......

I think they got a very bad call.

I thought it was both the right call and a gutsy call

[Purple Haize]

What defines good officiating isn't so much what they call or don't call, but consistency. The problem with this call is that it happens CONSTANTLY in modern college football. It gets called probably 1 out of 25 games. Strange timing, for sure.

I think it goes to degrees. Both those receivers very blatantly blocked the defenders. A quick 'pick' would have been sufficient

[TDDance234]

They threw the flag for a pick, correct?

They hardly ever throw that flag and it seems players are almost always blocking before the ball is thrown.

[JakeP50]

ACC refs doing something controversial in a big game that worked in favor of the team that the favorite going in, where have I see this before? Oh, that's right the ACC does this all the time. The ACC hates upsets and will do anything in their power to avoid them. If this same play happened in the first quarter it doesn't get called.

[flamesfilmguy]

I dislike FSU and more specifically Jamis Winston as much as the next guy. but It was absolutely the right call. Keshawn Johnson explained it pretty well in a segment early on sunday on ESPN. the players SHOULD be taught to engage at the line and pivot out to avoid the OPI. In fact doing that usually can garner a DPI call. but they blocked all the way into the EZ without making an effort to even make it look like they were running a route. Brian Kelly even said in the post game press conference that they coach it that way which is wrong. I think BK is a good coach but thats not what his receivers should have been doing.

[Dr. Sheh]

Kelly also said there was an FSU player who took his helmet off that should have resulted in a flag. I cannot find any video confirming this tho. On his call to the ACC, the refs admitted they blew that call and it should have been a flag. I'm guessing that would have negated the offensive PI call if it happened and repeat 4th and goal, correct?

My only other thought on the PI is that Kelly was told that # 7 Fuller was flagged for the play, which if true is confusing. If it was # 20 Prosise, it looks like a penalty. The sad thing is I think Robinson would have scored regardless, he was WIDE open.

[Purple Haize]

Kelly also said there was an FSU player who took his helmet off that should have resulted in a flag. I cannot find any video confirming this tho. On his call to the ACC, the refs admitted they blew that call and it should have been a flag. I'm guessing that would have negated the offensive PI call if it happened and repeat 4th and goal, correct?

My only other thought on the PI is that Kelly was told that # 7 Fuller was flagged for the play, which if true is confusing. If it was # 20 Prosise, it looks like a penalty. The sad thing is I think Robinson would have scored regardless, he was WIDE open.

If the helmet came off after the play was dead FSU would have still gotten the ball and 1/2 distance to the goal line
Both WR could have been flagged so take your pick. It would have been great to see Robinson try and score. He was open but I would like to see the FSU DB make a play. It would have been close!

[BJWilliams]

Even if the helmet call was made, there is no guarantee that on the replayed down (since it was a dead ball foul), Notre Dame would have scored

[TH Spangler]

What defines good officiating isn't so much what they call or don't call, but consistency. The problem with this call is that it happens CONSTANTLY in modern college football. It gets called probably 1 out of 25 games. Strange timing, for sure.

I agree.

More FSU fallout, "FSU coach Jimbo Fisher cuts media interview short after his reputation is questioned"

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr- ... 12978.html

[JK37]

The right call was made, and it took guts. Prosise was blatant. "Picks" happen, but receivers need to be less overt.

I hate what FSU has become under Jimbo, and I've hated ND since the 1989 Fiesta Bowl.

[Sly Fox]

I don't think anyone is arguing the legality of the play. Most are questioning the subjective nature of the enforcement. That call could be made frequently and they chose that specific moment to throw the flag?

And for the record, I always cheer for anyone playing Notre Dame unless it is Michigan when I hope that both teams could lose.

[flamehunter]

I think what caused the flag was the fact that the guy got so wide open. If a defender had been able to get to within a few yards of him perhaps the ref doesn't through the flag? It was too blatant.

[Sly Fox]

On the other hand, he would have likely been open regardless of the penalties because of a blown assignment. Just playing devil's advocate.

[alabama24]

I don't think anyone is arguing the legality of the play. Most are questioning the subjective nature of the enforcement. That call could be made frequently and they chose that specific moment to throw the flag?

Come on Sly. You are better than that. Refs don't "choose" when they are going to enforce a call. It was the end of a very important game and the refs were paying more careful attention.

[Purple Haize]

On the other hand, he would have likely been open regardless of the penalties because of a blown assignment. Just playing devil's advocate.

I think he would have been open if it were a 'pick" play and I think there would have been a play on the goal line that would have been epic

[Hold My Own]

I've been dead set that this was the right call. However after seeing this angle I'm willing to at least consider the idea that it probably should have been a no call. http://m.wsbt.com/sports/a-new-look-at- ... u/29232562

[jimflamesfan]

We used to run that play under Beecher/Rocco all the time. Trips to one side and the other two receivers set picks.

LU scored their first TD against WVU using the same play on a 4th and 2 a few years back. I'm glad there was no flag! We weren't as obviously blocking as ND...but we were still setting picks.

We did get a flag on a similar play in a crucial moment on a close loss at Stony Brook on the same play...the year that Stony Brook eventually beat us with the bomb near the end of the game.

That's a tough call either way. The problem is, they didn't call it in the first half...so the argument is, you play to how they are officiating.

On the other hand...why in the world did the receivers not even try to look like receivers instead of extra offensive linemen?

[RubberMallet]

they straight up blocked. didn't even attempt to run a route which is how to run a pick play. I believe it has to do with the ball being a "lateral" or a forward pass which what the person can do. many screen passes are "forward" plays but usually its near perpendicular to the sideline. therefore the wr's blocking right away is normal and never called. this was totally a forward pass and the wr's starting blocking immediately. sorry that play is going to get flagged all the time. if he takes that snap under center turns and throws while the wr is moving sideways, TD. but he threw a pass 9 yds down the field instead.

[JK37]

Mallet, you are correct. In the same way that a dropped pass to a player behind the thrower is a lateral, such a "pick play" to a wide receiver in the flat is technically a run - not a pass. So the rules for how the other receivers near the area may block downfield are different. That is why the penalty was correctly called "offensive pass interference". Had it been a running play, no such penalty would have been possible.

Brian Kelly knows it's an illegal play. If anything, his gripe can only be that it wasn't called consistently throughout the game. But by arguing as he did that it's a legal play and that they teach their players to execute the play in that fashion, he loses that position.

[01LUGrad]

Kelly also said there was an FSU player who took his helmet off that should have resulted in a flag. I cannot find any video confirming this tho. On his call to the ACC, the refs admitted they blew that call and it should have been a flag. I'm guessing that would have negated the offensive PI call if it happened and repeat 4th and goal, correct?

My only other thought on the PI is that Kelly was told that # 7 Fuller was flagged for the play, which if true is confusing. If it was # 20 Prosise, it looks like a penalty. The sad thing is I think Robinson would have scored regardless, he was WIDE open.

If the helmet came off after the play was dead FSU would have still gotten the ball and 1/2 distance to the goal line
Both WR could have been flagged so take your pick. It would have been great to see Robinson try and score. He was open but I would like to see the FSU DB make a play. It would have been close!

Way late here, but the dead ball infraction would have been enforced after the PI was marked off. Unsportsmanlike conduct is an automatic 1st down. It would have been 1st and goal ND from the 9 with 13 seconds to play.

I'm just glad the ACC apologized for it. Wheew. All better now.