Duke football needs Emmert, NCAA to step in on their behalf
The Duke football team was robbed, completely and utterly mugged by a group of zebra-striped incompetents – or worse, collusion artists – and the NCAA needs to step in and right the wrong.
NCAA commissioner Mark Emmert and his brute squad are awfully fond of flexing their muscle and exerting their authority, many times in places where its not needed or doesn’t belong. It’s time they lived up to their mantra and purpose of protecting the student athletes and formed a shield around the Duke football program.
The now-supsended ACC officiating crew who so egregiously blew the multiple calls on the final 8-lateral play of the Duke-Miami game this past weekend (as fully admitted and apologized for by the ACC offices) not only gave the Hurricanes a win they did not deserve, but also potentially upset national rankings, ACC Championship game contention and College Football Playoff possibilities for the Blue Devils.
That type of incompetence deserves more than just punishment for the officials, it deserves an intervention and a reversal by the NCAA.
This wasn’t just a “Fail Mary” play, where a tight judgement call was missed. This was a series of blunders and gaffes so unbelievable that even well known Miami alumni are chuckling about it on national television.
The laundry list of mistakes made by the on-field crew and the replay official (who took nine minutes to finally get the call…wrong) per the ACC office findings is astounding:
• Replay official Andrew Panucci should have ruled Miami back Mark Walton was down before releasing the ball on one of the laterals. If the proper call had been made, the game would have ended in a Duke victory.
• The on-field officials failed to penalize Miami for an illegal block in the back at the Miami 16-yard line. If called, the ball would have been placed at the Miami 8-yard line and the game would have been extended for an untimed down.
• The on-field crew failed to penalize Miami receiver Rashawn Scott for leaving the bench and running onto the field before the play ended. The penalty would not have negated the touchdown because it would have been enforced as a dead ball foul.
• The block in the back penalty that was called — at the Duke 26-yard line — was picked up after the officials conferred, which is appropriate. They correctly determined that the block was from the side. The replay official was not involved in the decision to pick up the flag; however, referee Jerry Magallanes did not effectively manage communication and properly explain why the flag was picked up.
Either these officials are so inept that they actually missed every bit of that (which is bad), or they colluded to make the call and give the Hurricanes the win (which is worse). Suspending this crew for two weeks should just be the beginning. The NCAA should conduct one of their well-known “investigations” to begin with, and then find a loophole in the NCAA tome of rules that allows them to reverse that call, and give Duke the win they deserve.
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It honestly doesn’t matter if there is anything on the books that allows them to do it right now or not. The NCAA makes a habit of making the rules up as they go along anyway, why not do it for good instead of perceived evil for a change?
If Emmert and his merry band of sanction-happy marauders can vacate championships, wins, awards and anything else their hearts desire; if they can suspend players for the smallest of infractions; if they can have coaches removed for “loss of institutional control”; if they can grant autonomy to five powerful entities while telling everyone else to fend for themselves, then they can right the wrong done to Duke.
You want people to applaud the NCAA instead of ridiculing the organization for a change, Mr. Emmert? Then break out your pen of righteousness +2, and sign something that reverses this season-changing call, and do it before another down of college football is played this season.