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YzzazzSay what you want about the bad calls, UVA's 4th down fumble was an amazingly GOOD call by a skilled officiating crew that performed at a high level in that circumstance. The replay was hard to follow, but good enough to establish two things:
1. The fumble happened before the UVA QB was down.
2. BYU ended up with the ball when the play was blown dead.
In the crazy scrum of players and split-second timing in which the ball was visible, those refs had to not only observe something highly unusual, they had to overcome their bias of focusing only on whether the ball would pass the 4th down line, and keep their heads long enough not to make the call too quickly. They took their time to hash out three differing individual opinions and nailed the conclusion: BYU ball.
Had they not seen and registered the fumble, predicting how that crew would deciding whether or not Lambert made the line was a crap shoot. Who knows what they would come up with, but I have a hard time believing they don't give UVA the first down.
You can't underestimate how big that call was. Imagine that UVA in the middle of all that momentum with their starting QB is allowed to continue the drive at midfield. Sure there is no telling what would happen, but a mere 20 more yards of advance is a potential field goal.
Now when you add the impact of that call to the fact that the cougar crowd, the south-stand student section(!), was basically responsible for UVA's illegal procedure call that switched a gimme rush for 7 (UVA's o-line was dominating right then) into a field goal, you comprehend that the refs helped keep Virginia from scoring 3 and maybe 7 points, and the crowd clearly stopped them from scoring 4 more...
well, let's just say that BYU fans everywhere have a lot to be thankful for this weekend.
1. The fumble happened before the UVA QB was down.
2. BYU ended up with the ball when the play was blown dead.
In the crazy scrum of players and split-second timing in which the ball was visible, those refs had to not only observe something highly unusual, they had to overcome their bias of focusing only on whether the ball would pass the 4th down line, and keep their heads long enough not to make the call too quickly. They took their time to hash out three differing individual opinions and nailed the conclusion: BYU ball.
Had they not seen and registered the fumble, predicting how that crew would deciding whether or not Lambert made the line was a crap shoot. Who knows what they would come up with, but I have a hard time believing they don't give UVA the first down.
You can't underestimate how big that call was. Imagine that UVA in the middle of all that momentum with their starting QB is allowed to continue the drive at midfield. Sure there is no telling what would happen, but a mere 20 more yards of advance is a potential field goal.
Now when you add the impact of that call to the fact that the cougar crowd, the south-stand student section(!), was basically responsible for UVA's illegal procedure call that switched a gimme rush for 7 (UVA's o-line was dominating right then) into a field goal, you comprehend that the refs helped keep Virginia from scoring 3 and maybe 7 points, and the crowd clearly stopped them from scoring 4 more...
well, let's just say that BYU fans everywhere have a lot to be thankful for this weekend.