Maybe it is just me, but did the clock operator not realize that it stops with the first down, until the ball is spotted and chains are set? Because it seemed to keep running, especially at the end of the half and at the end of the game.
Clock Running
- Thread starter recruitsreadtheseboards
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That isn't technically true. The clock restarts when the referee signals for the clock to restart. And two or three years ago the refs were given a directive that they were not supposed to wait until the chains were completely set to wind the clock. Watch the referee after a first down sometime. They generally signal for the clock to start as soon as the ball is spotted by the umpire and he backs away from the ball. At that point the chains are pretty much never set, but the play clock starts. And frequently that only takes three or four seconds.
The one time the clock operator did absolutely screw up was after the clock was stopped after a Pitt injury late in the game (Price maybe?). When they restarted the game clock the play clock should have been set to 25 and they started it at 40. North Carolina could have run off a lot more time than they did. Fortunately for us, North Carolina had no interest in running clock and snapped the ball after about 10-15 seconds. But the clock operator did screw that one up.
but that is not the case here...before the half the ball was twenty yards down field from the line of scrimmage and player was down with 3 seconds and should have been stopped immediately but ran to 1....players could have beat the chains to the spot and got the spike in....nothing to do with chain placement at that point...
Totally unacceptable. I thought they should have put two second back on the clock, after watching the replay it looked like there actually should have been three seconds. One second was just idiotic and scrambling to give Pitt time because everyone was out of whack.
That wasn't all on the refs right there, but overall they had a disgustingly terrible game. I'm honestly sick of these ACC crews, none of them are even average. This isn't just me being upset about calls not going our way either, they just suck. The interference call against the kid covering Holtz late in the game was not inference, but the next play there was a lot more contact. Every single game with an ACC crew has been a disgrace to officiating.
That wasn't all on the refs right there, but overall they had a disgustingly terrible game. I'm honestly sick of these ACC crews, none of them are even average. This isn't just me being upset about calls not going our way either, they just suck. The interference call against the kid covering Holtz late in the game was not inference, but the next play there was a lot more contact. Every single game with an ACC crew has been a disgrace to officiating.
He wasn't talking about just that one play. You can tell because he says at the end of the half and the end of the game. The refs aren't doing anything different at the end of the half and the end of the game than they are doing at any other time, it's just that more people are paying attention to it then.
On the next to last play of the half, I agree that the clock should have stopped a second or two sooner than it did. However do we not all think that that sort of thing happens all the time during the course of a game, we just simply don't notice it? If the clock operator allowing an extra second or two to run off the clock after a first down was a fire-able offense there wouldn't be anyone left to operate the clock. Anywhere.
If the clock operator allowing an extra second or two to run off the clock after a first down was a fire-able offense there wouldn't be anyone left to operate the clock. Anywhere. uh, I think when all you have to do is run the clock and a team is driving the ball for a score prior to the clock's expiration at the end of a half you should be paying pretty damn close attention to your job don't you think? Two seconds ticking off at 8:42 of the 3rd quarter is not the same thing as what happened here.
The real issue at the end of the half was Pitt's poor clock management, not the official's. Pitt wasted a time out just before the NC field goal, after NC had called time out when they tried to get our d to jump offside. Then after Petterman's run they wasted about ten seconds before calling time out - should have either spiked the ball or called the t.o. immediately. That extra ten seconds and an extra time out likely would have lead to points.
It was after the run by Peterman at the end of the first half. I thought the clock never really stopped and the run was like 24 yards, you would think that there should have been some time allotted to the chains, refs and teams regaining the LOS 20+ yards downfield.
And yeah, I did think when they reset the play clock when UNC had the ball to 40 "jeez, they are going to run it all off" and they snapped it with like 25 seconds left. Maybe they didn't realize it either.
I think the clock starts when the ball is reset after an out of bounds play - except for the last 2 minutes of each half. In the last two minutes, the clock doesn't re-start until the ball is snapped after an out-of-bounds play...
Go Pitt.
