Tonight, WVU got screwed by a terrible replay reversal. They were ahead 14-7 and 5th ranked Cincinnati had the ball at the two shortly before halftime. They handed it off to their RB who tried to leap over the pile and extend the ball to break the plane of the end zone. Only problem was he lost control of the ball before getting it there, he ended up fumbling, and WVU recovered for a huge stop. The call on the field was fumble with a WVU recovery.
Now, according to NCAA rules, the only way to get a call on the field reversed by replay is if the video shows "indisputable evidence" that the refs got it wrong the first time. So what does "indisputable" mean? According to the dictionary, it means "not disputable or deniable, uncontestable, unquestionably real." Based on this definition, if the replay still leaves some doubt as to whether the Cincy RB got the ball across, then it can't be "unquestionably real" then, can it? To me (a biased WVU fan), and to both the ESPN guys calling the game (presumably unbiased), it sure looked like he didn't have control of the ball even if the ball DID cross the plane,which in itself was very questionable too.
To everyone's amazement, after a quick review, the ref overturned the call on the field, saying the RB crossed the plane - touchdown Cincy, tying the game at 14 going into halftime. The second half was exciting, Jarrett Brown (WVU's QB) rallied the team and drove the length of the field for the go-ahead score with 37 seconds to play. However, they were still down 3. The onside kick failed and Cincy took a knee to end the game. A 3 point victory. That last touchdown should have put WVU ahead by 4 were it not for the very disputable replay, Cincy should have taken their first loss tonight.
I'd love to hear the ref try and explain how he arrived at an "indisputable" conclusion to overturn the original call. Indisputable means that there is no QUESTION about what happened on the field. Only then can the call be overturned. There were many questions after watching the replay - which should have prevented the refs from overturning the call. What bugs me is that this is certainly not the first VERY questionable call that went towards helping an undefeated team STAY undefeated. Conspiracy? I don't know, but if calls like these continue, a lot of people will have a lot of questions.
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I watched that game, saw that call, and it was NOT indisputable. I would consider myself unbiased most of the time, and that call should not have been turned over. The reason replay was instituted was to make the game more fair, turning over calls that were blatantly obviously wrong. This was a close call, really they could have called it initially either way. But in my opinion, that should not have been turned over. The replay ref should have been reprimanded after the game by the conference officials. So WVU got hosed, for sure.
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