FSU football saw their two possession lead late in the fourth quarter taken away by a penalty that, upon further review, was the wrong call.
With FSU football watching as their 20 point lead was evaporating drive by drive in Saturday’s rivalry battle with the Miami Hurricanes, it was all right there for the Seminoles – Deondre Francois passed to wide receiver D.J. Matthews, who found fellow receiver Keith Gavin wide open for a touchdown that would put the Noles back up by two scores.
As the garnet and gold in the stands and on the sideline cheered what likely would have been the nail in the coffin for the win, a little yellow flag laid on the field – with the ACC refs saying Francois’ pass had been forward and made Matthews’ pass illegal as a result, nullifying the touchdown and essentially killing any momentum swing that would have come over to the visitors.
After the game, FSU football head coach Willie Taggart said that the officials told him they looked at it in the replay booth and it wasn’t close. But a look at the video shows that it wasn’t just close – it was not a forward pass.
Players and Taggart were shocked at both the play call and the fact that the crew didn’t even look at it in what was the most important play of the game at that point (h/t Tallahassee Democrat).
"“I was too busy chasing Keith down after he scored and I turned around and saw the flag down and that’s when we were all shocked,” FSU center Alec Eberle said. “We had no idea.” “He said it was in front of him,” Taggart said. “It wasn’t close enough… They looked up there. They told me they were looking at it and he said it’s not.”"
Now, there are two things to talk about with this one: first, there is a certain questions about whether Taggart should have used one of the three FSU football timeouts he had left at this point to ask for another look at the challenge. It might not have changed things, but maybe an extra minute in the booth could have – we’ll never know.
Second, no matter what, those of us in garnet and gold know that the ACC has never been big on actually calling a fair game – yes, I get that it sounds like sour grapes considering we lost and there have been times where the Seminoles have gotten the benefit of the bad call. That’s my point: ACC refs are among the worst of them all both for and against the Seminoles.
Taggart said Monday that the play was sent to the conference office for clarification, with the head Seminole being diplomatic and saying it was so they know what to do in the future for that play to be legal. Here’s the answer, Willie: run the same play the same way. It was a blown call that the conference will never own up to.