ACC speaks:
By Coley Harvey, Orlando Sentinel
TALLAHASSEE — This week, it's fair-catchgate that has Florida State feeling a little flustered. And this time, the Seminoles may have a good reason to be a little upset.
For the third game in the past month, ACC officials have drawn the ire of FSU fans after what they believe is a spate of strange calls have gone against the Seminoles. Following the latest set of odd rulings from referees, even coach Jimbo Fisher has started speaking out. He's a little concerned that in this case, one wrong was tried to be made right.
"I don't care if it's good or bad, I just want them to call the game the right way, consistently," Fisher said.
In the second quarter of Saturday's 41-16 win over Maryland, Seminoles punt returner Greg Reid was penalized for an "illegal fair catch" when he pointed at the ground ahead of a return. Reid told reporters after the game he was trying to inform his blockers that the ball was hitting the ground and that they needed to move accordingly.
Once the ball bounced into his hands, Reid weaved his way past a couple of Maryland coverage players before referees began trying to whistle the play dead. Some Terrapins began pulling up just before Reid made a move on punter Nick Ferrara to sprint toward the end zone for a potential touchdown.
"I was under the (impression) if you don't wave your arms, if you just point, you're fine," Fisher said Monday during his weekly news conference. "And that was my interpretation of the rule."
Rule 2, Section 8, Article 2 of the NCAA rulebook states that "a valid (fair catch) signal is a signal given by a player … who has obviously signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving that hand from side-to-side of his body more than once."
Officials ruled that Reid's point in the air was a valid fair catch signal.
ACC coordinator of officials Doug Rhoads partially stood behind his referees Monday, but since interpretation of the rule is so constricting, he understood Fisher's frustrations.
"When a player points, raises his arm or anything other than a valid fair catch (signal), there's room for interpretation," Rhoads said in a statement sent to FSU's sports information office. "It's way too tight of an interpretation to be called. Way too technical."
So, with that said, in Fisher's eyes, "it shouldn't have been called."
Part of what may have affected the ruling was the fact that on an earlier punt return, Reid made a similar gesture ahead of a punt he did not return. He made a motion that could have been interpreted – via the NCAA rulebook, at least – as a valid fair catch. Nothing was called by referees on that play, but, knowing that, they may have been on the lookout for the next time they saw Reid make any kind of movement.
Fisher doesn't buy that, though.
"Why should that have any carryover?" Fisher said. "That play should have been called then. I mean, that's like if a guy robs a store twice and you don't catch him and he robs a store the third time, why is that a crime the third time and not the first two times?"
After the play was blown dead and was upheld as a spot-foul infraction, on the very next play, officials turned a blind eye to something Fisher called "extremely dangerous."
At the end of a 31-yard pass completion from quarterback EJ Manuel to receiver Rodney Smith, a Maryland defender brought Smith down by the back of his shoulder pads in a horsecollar fashion. The play occurred right in front of Fisher near the FSU sideline. With two officials standing near the play, he was visibly perturbed that no penalty was charged.
"I'm standing beside you," Fisher said, excitedly. "You talk about hits to the head. Horsecollars are extremely dangerous. Horsecollars along with the headshots and the onside kick – which I think is a very dangerous play – horsecollars … You talk about chops all the time? Well that horsecollar breaks more legs and blows more legs than any chop.
"When you grab a guy by the pads and you pull him and you fall back, if his weight's down, legs will snap and knees will pop."
Smith got up and was OK after the play.
ACC officials first became Public Enemy No. 1 for the FSU fan base three weeks ago after a report surfaced on an FSU message board claiming the ACC privately accepted responsibility for having missed seven penalties ruled against the Seminoles in their loss against Clemson.
An ACC official later denied the reports claims when approached by the Orlando Sentinel.
Following a loss to Wake Forest the week after, fans were beside themselves when video began surfacing on YouTube of an official moving the spot of a football on a crucial fourth down as the play was being measured. With FSU on defense, the Wake Forest ball was moved a few inches closer to the first down line.
