Ole Miss was not happy with the officiating toward the end of its heartbreaking loss to Cal on Saturday, but the Pac-12 conference believes the officials handled the situation the right way.
The Rebels were trailing 28-20 and had 3rd-and-goal from the Cal 3-yard line with just 22 seconds remaining and no timeouts. Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee threw on 3rd down and found receiver Elijah Moore at the goal line, but the official marked him short. The play was, for some reason, not reviewed, so Ole Miss had to hurry to the line and attempt a QB sneak with time running out. They were stopped short again.
It certainly seemed like the game should have been stopped after Moore’s catch to determine if he broke the plane, but it was not. There was also some question about the 4th down sneak being reviewed, but the Pac-12 says the sequence was handled correctly.
Not likely to appease Ole Miss fans but Pac-12 says all was good at end of Cal's controversial win in Oxford. pic.twitter.com/T5t4U02cND
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) September 23, 2019
There’s a difference between making the right call and the right decision. Even if the calls were correct, Moore was close enough to the goal line to warrant at least taking a closer look at the play. You can see the entire sequence here.
While Ole Miss is mostly to blame for mismanaging the clock after being stopped short on 3rd down, you can understand why they were upset that the play was not reviewed.
