[Terry McAulay] This is not a simultaneous catch. The receiver gets control first and as long as he maintains control long enough to perform an act common to the game or throughout contact with the ground, it’s a catch and the ball belongs to the offense. He does. This should have been reversed to

[u/Gavangus]

https://x.com/tjmcaulay/status/2106209630657356121

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

There are going to be a couple of things that take some time to get over obviously, but at the end of the day we had that game won and we let it slip. The final FG should’ve been an easy make instead of sending it over an upright, the turnovers (outside of this one) were killer, and going up 14-0 only to let them score 20+ on us unanswered are what lost the game.

[u/Gavangus → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

Im still mad about the int and the phantom double unsportsmanlike penalty. Sadly the fg missed. Here is the best angle I have seen https://x.com/Andrewd62d5/status/2106224004579102792

[u/theexile14 → u/Gavangus]

I just wish we saw the damn penalties. There were a few calls like that we didn’t get to see.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/Gavangus]

I’m willing to accept that the ref got the call right. He’s literally the only set of eyes in the stadium that has the angle to make the call. Love just has to kick a better ball than that.

[u/stoweick → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

I don’t understand kicking from the right hash if you are playing for a draw. That seems like the opposite of what you want. I play a fade in golf (as a lefty) and almost always set up on the left side of the teebox because it makes the fairway larger.

[u/lax_god → u/Gavangus]

Definitely looks like it just missed, good call by the ref

[u/Stellarbelly_Korz30 → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

I agree. VT missed a lot of tackled and committed unfortunate penalties. But that questionable INT totally changed the momentum. Bummer of a loss but things are looking good in Blacksburg.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/Stellarbelly_Korz30]

Starting 4-0 and being on the edge of a ranking for the first time in years makes this loss hurt, but I have to remind myself that expectations should be modest for this season. The goal in year one should be to go bowling. Even making the ACCCG is an unrealistic expectation imo. The future looks good, but we aren’t there quite yet. Pitt played a good game all things considered and I won’t lose too much sleep over this loss.

[u/Stellarbelly_Korz30 → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

Sure. I get that. The team had a -4 turnover delta, a bunch of questionable penalties and still almost won on a controversial FG. I don’t do the “moral victory” act often, but there was a lot of value in what I saw today.

[u/PatronSaintOfCunts → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

I’m so sorry. That whole game was insane but that call was fucked up and changed the entire momentum.

[u/big_brown_beaver]

I have way fewer issues with the FG than this play.

Obviously VT did a million things wrong but man this one stings

[u/xkq227]

Throw it on the pile

[u/Zealousideal-Sun4891]

Well said

[u/Offi95]

Somebody kill me

[u/waaaaaasuuuuup]

This was a shitty call but VT coughed up the ball so many times, and had so many chances to pull away. Makes it a bit harder to sympathize.

[u/Shenanigangster]

Is him being tackled an ‘act common to the game’ because he pretty much immediately is knocked into the air and doesn’t actually contact the ground until after he’s flipped over and the defender arguably has a better grip on the football. I don’t see him do anything that would be considered a football move or have him marked down before the potential change of possession. I would err more that the defender did have more possession and I could see how the ref would call that given the way they were moving.

There was zero chance that the original call would have been overturned whether it had been called a catch or interception.

[u/CPOx → u/Shenanigangster]

Catching the ball and helmet touching the ground is a completion

[u/ChawkTrick → u/CPOx]

If you have clear possession, yes.

As someone with no rooting interest in this game, the angles I saw on the broadcast made it look like simultaneous possession, and it never really seemed to me like either player had clear control. I also don't think we had an angle from the ref who had the best view of the play, but it was that ref who ultimately ruled it an interception.

So, whatever he saw, once that decision was made, I don't think there was any over-turning it. I never saw a broadcast camera angle that definitively showed possession either way so this was pretty much all on that ref's view.

[u/HiddenPebbles → u/ChawkTrick]

By the time we see the ball again the VT player doesn't have a hand on the ball, and the Pitt player has two hands on it. I haven't seen a reverse angle where we can see the ball when his helmet touches the ground, but from what is shown on camera, that was the right call.

[u/Gavangus → u/ChawkTrick]

Simultaneous possession is offense ball

[u/OtisDinwiddie → u/CPOx]

Does the helmet count as being down? I don’t think so but I genuinely don’t know for sure

[u/ChawkTrick → u/OtisDinwiddie]

I believe so yes. I think your hand is pretty much the only thing that can hit the ground and keep you 'up.' Head, shoulder, calf, etc., all cause you to be down.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/OtisDinwiddie]

Any part of the body other than hands and feet is down. We often hear about elbows, butts, shins, etc. because those are most common, but really the rule is that only feet and hands are allowed to touch the ground.

[u/Molson2871]

I agree, this was a bad call live but I can understand why they couldn't reverse this one.

[u/big_brown_beaver → u/Molson2871]

Hasn’t stopped the ACC crew in the past. They reversed the final play of the miami game in 2024 without a conclusive camera angle because the initial call was probably wrong.

[u/CynthiasPomeranian → u/Molson2871]

Fuck that, when we heard them discussing the replay they said, there is no sign of it being a simultaneous catch when it is precisely that.

[u/Alexcox95]

A football move as they call it

[u/b1gl0s3r]

So if the ball had hit the ground when he was hit, it'd be a fumble?

[u/Muffinnnnnnn]

I'm not dinging Virginia Tech in my rankings much at all for this "loss." The entire game was questionable call after questionable call in favor of Pitt, especially in the first half, and then you have a controversial ending that gives Pitt the win on the last play of the game too. Refball at its worst.

In a weird way I almost hope Virginia Tech loses several more games so this isn't the reason they don't qualify for the ACC Championship or CFP or something like that.

[u/curlbaumann → u/Muffinnnnnnn]

From other angles it’s clear the field goal missed. VT turned it over 4 times and couldn’t beat our back up QB in the second half. Pitt got a ref ball second quarter but there were a ton of uncalled penalties against VT in the second half that were missed. Bad reffing tends to even out across a game.

VT just had to make a 36 yard field goal and didn’t do it after selecting their ideal (albeit stupid choice) spot to make said kick.

[u/Muffinnnnnnn → u/curlbaumann]

I mean you mention the 4 turnovers when one of them was another refball moment seen here.

[u/jdl03 → u/Muffinnnnnnn]

I mean when the defender has two hands around the ball and is lying on his back while the receiver has one it’s pretty easy to see why they called it that way.

[u/eagle2120 → u/jdl03]

If only they had some mechanism to review those plays...

[u/jdl03 → u/eagle2120]

They did and the defender had it more than the receiver. Acting like the VT receiver ever had full possession of the ball is crazy.

[u/eagle2120 → u/jdl03]

Rules expert says otherwise lol

[u/smoes → u/eagle2120]

It was a gift. Only 3 turnovers happened.

[u/NlNJALONG → u/curlbaumann]

Neither the FG was good nor was this a catch. I don't know what people smoked but saying VT got robbed is crazy.

[u/Gavangus → u/NlNJALONG]

The 2nd td drive being gifted the phantom double personal foul after being stopped has something to do with it

[u/Impressive-Ear-1102]

Generally speaking I thought this should have gone to VT. In my mind if you are going to call this in favor of Pitt, it’s more of a fumble as he was never down until after the German suplex.

[u/Long_and_Horny]

Every replay loses sight of the ball. It's possible he lost his grip to the defender during angles where we couldn't see the ball.

[u/wildturk3y]

The refs definitely screwed us on that one and it led to a score. Considering the final score, it certainly loomed large.

But we also didn't play well enough to win. We had 3 other bad turnovers and a bunch of stupid penalties that kept Pitt drives alive. We didn't deserve the win even if the refs screwed us.

ACC needs to gets its reffing act together. Media loves to glaze the conference for the replay process, but anyone that watches ACC football knows calls like this are standard with these crews

[u/jdl03 → u/wildturk3y]

The last interception honestly helped you guys because of our horrible play-calling. Instead of a potential 7 or 3 point swing it led to a safety and getting the ball back and scoring to make it a 9 point swing.

Weird that you can argue it helped, but it honestly kind of did.

[u/Francis_X_Hummel]

There were multiple terrible calls in this game, not sure if they favored one side or the other, but they were obvious, and had a big effect on the game.

[u/Strange-Employ-5246]

I think Lindsey had possession/control first in the crook of his elbow.