Not sour grapes or anything, but in rewatching the game the announcers made sort of a big deal of pointing out that the umpire (who lines up facing the quarterback) nodded to the linesmen that Sarah Jessica Parker had scored on the last play and the linesmen called the TD. The umpire never signals touchdown. But here's the thing -- if he's got that clear a view then why not throw your hands up as soon as you see it? And if it's not his call, why tell the linesmen that a TD was scored? I understand the concept of officials helping each other out, but that just seemed a little odd. He was willing to let the other officials make the call that he couldn't? shouldn't? :geauxtige:geauxtige:geauxtige:geauxtige
Probably because it is not him job to signal a TD. It is the job of the linesman to signal the call. He can be used to help make the call, but can not actually make the call himself.
I'm really not trying to start a flame war here, but that picture goes a long way to showing what I mean. All you can see is Parker Wilson lying on the ground with the ball. I agree that it looks like, but you can't say for sure, that the ball is over the goal line. And that's probably pretty close to what the umpire saw. What you don't see -- and what I don't think the umpire could see, not just on this play on almost ANY short yardage play where the QB submarines -- is HOW he got there. When did his knee touch? Where was the ball when his knee touched? I fully agree that if it's call no TD on this play, there is a 99.9999999999% chance that Bama kicks a field goal on one of the next two snaps to win the game. But we all remember Florida in 06, right? And then the other point is, if that's what the umpire saw, then why not call it? Go ahead and put your hands in the air. I really don't think there's a rule against him calling a TD in that situation. And if it is the call of one or both of the linesmen and THEY CAN'T SEE IF THE BALL CROSSED THE GOAL LINE, then it shouldn't be a TD, right? I guess my question is why should they rely on another official, who doesn't have the responsibility to make the call, to make the call? Again, this question isn't specific to this game or this play or these teams, but I think it was a good example of officials making calls based on what other officials see.
Because Wilson dove so low, there was no way to call this other than by where he ended up. The referee would have been the only person to tell if he crawled on his knee to get there, but that never happens in cases like this. All of the other referees were blocked from seeing him actually cross the goal line by the total pile of humanity. The photo is the only evidence I have seen that he actually got there. That said, there was also no chance of the play being reversed for exactly the same reason. No conclusive evidence was ever going to be available. Don't get me wrong, I think he legitimately scored, but it's just an example of how hard the game is to call sometimes. The play that really beat us was the pass to Jones. GEAUX TIGERS
