ACC: Officials "Clearly Erred" at UNC-Virginia Game

The Atlantic Coast Conference supervisor of officials said Monday that the crew in Chapel Hill “clearly erred” in initially calling a Virginia field goal no good Saturday.

Early in the second half, Virginia’s Chris Gould made a 48-yard attempt that back judge Virgil Valdez ruled no good, and field judge Frank Overcash agreed.

Virginia coach Al Groh challenged the call and it was overturned.

Virginia beat North Carolina, 22-20.

“The officials clearly erred in not calling that field goal good,” Doug Rhoads, the ACC supervisor of football officials, said from Greensboro. “It was a breakdown in their mechanics. … It was a deviation from our standard practice of mechanics by both officials.

“We’ll address their error in mechanics.”

Rhoads, who spent 29 years as a back judge before moving to his current position this year, praised his officials, saying, “These are veteran officials. They’re excellent. But even they make an occasional mistake.”

On field goals, the back judge is always under the crossbar on the side opposite the press box and the field judge is under the cross bar on the side near the press box.

Replays showed the ball barely cleared the bottom left corner just above Valdez; Valdez seemed to jerk away as if to avoid being hit.

“The proper mechanic is each official has the upright he is standing under. The ball has to entirely pass inside the imaginary line of the pipe. If any part of the ball is over the pipe, it’s no good,” Rhoads said.

“Now, as the ball is coming down, they have the crossbar to contend with. It’s the back judge’s responsibility for any play that hits the crossbar.”

THis time, Rhoads said,  “It looks like it’s almost going to strike him. He moves to avoid being hit, and when he does, he loses his concentration.”

What should happen is the back judge and field judge look at each other, verbally assess whether the field goal was good or not, and make the call together, he said.

In this case, replays showed Valdez appeared to make a “no good” call and Overcash followed.

ACC head coaches are allowed one challenge per game, and Groh used his. All plays are also reviewed by three people in the booth with a television monitor.

“The head coach only can ask for one challenge per game,” Rhoads said. “So the way it reads is the head coach can request a review. The correct term is ‘challenge,’ one challenge per game.

“We grant a time out and they go to the review. If the review results in a reversal, the coach is correct, he gets that time out back. But he doesn’t get an additional challenge.”