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NCAA FootballVideo

You Make The Call: Stanford Touchdown Or Notre Dame Goal-Line Stand?

by Joe Levine | 10:30 am, October 14th, 2012

4th and goal from the one-yard line. Stanford ball, trailing Notre Dame 20-13.

Running back Stepfan Taylor takes the handoff and appears to score (eventually), only the referees rule him down shy of the goal line, both in real time and after review.

But was he down? YOU MAKE THE CALL.

There’s a bit of a gray area here regarding Taylor’s forward progress, as he does technically keep moving and eventually crosses into the end zone, but much of his movement is in place without any forward progress. Does wiggling constitute progress? I’m not sure, and the refs on the field didn’t think so, but Mike Pereira, the former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League and current rules analyst for FOX Sports, disagrees. He calls the play a touchdown.

“We have looked at ND/STA last play from every angle & feel that it is a TD,” he tweeted. “Progress was not ruled & runner was not down. Ball broke plain.

“The fact that the whistle may or may not have been blown is irrelevant. The play is reviewed and when the whistle blew has no bearing,” Pereira added.

What do you think? Touchdown? No touchdown? Is Taylor a quality wiggler? Let me hear from you.

[Larry Brown Sports]



  • djjazzy

    Sorry, but Pereira is an idiot. When the whistle blows- the play is over. Is he trying to tell us that players are supposed to keep hitting after the whistle blows ‘just in case’ the play ‘isn’t really over’? Bullshit. Players get flagged for hitting after the whistle all the time. You can’t have it both ways.

  • Anonymous

    The left elbow sure seems to hit the ground before he reaches over the goal line. I cannot imagine anyone being certain that it did not.

  • Jeremiah Hope

    This argument is ridiculous. First the forward progress was stopped and all I’ve ever heard in all my years as a football fan is that when the whistle blows..the play is over. However, even if it didn’t, it’s easy to see his BODY was on top of the pile until he made the reach…HOWEVER…..just before he extends his arms his elbow hits the ground and appears to me did so BEFORE the ball was over the line. Good call ref.

  • NeedName

    I’m a PAC-12 fan. . .and I also like Stanford a lot however, after watching the replay a few times and pausing it frame by frame it sure looks like his arm/elbow is on the ground before he makes the reach with the ball. . . HOWEVER, seeing that ND needed OT and a goal line stand to win I really don’t see how they don’t drop in the polls when a team ranked ten spots lower takes them the distance in their own house — just as ridiculous as West Virginia’s current ranking above TT.

  • danny

    Actually it was on second down when they scored and the ND ref’s did not allow it. They sure were not going to allow a score on fourth down.


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