Sugar Bowl 2012: Virginia Tech's Danny Coale Doesn't Get Close Call, Touchdown Catch Overturned (VIDEO, POLL)

It can be hard to blame the referees for a loss when a football team squanders trips to the red zone, botches a fake punt, fumbles a kick return, loses a fourth down gamble and also misses a field goal. But good luck trying to tell that to Virginia Tech fans after the controversial ending to the 2012 Sugar Bowl. Although Frank Beamer's Hokies were uncharacteristically mistake prone on special teams, Tech feels incredibly hard done by a controversial replay review that overturned a touchdown during the overtime session in the loss to Michigan.

On the first possession of OT, Tech appeared to have scored a crucial touchdown on an acrobatic, all-out diving catch by wide receiver Danny Coale. Michigan defenders immediately, speculatively, began signaling that Coale had not completed the catch. But the official right on top of the play looked, paused, and then raised his arms to signal for six points. Touchdown!

Not so fast. Before the Hokies' replacement kicker could poke the PAT through the uprights, play was paused for a review of the play. Watching the replay, it was clear that there were several things the official would be looking at on the very close call. Had Coale come down in bounds? Did he have possession of the ball when he hit the ground? Was that elbow down? Did the ground help him control the ball?

Given two chances to make the call at the Superdome, the on-site officiating crew made two calls. On the second, the original call was overturned.

Coale said after the game that he thought he scored and it would have been hard to reverse, "but they obviously saw something I didn't see."

The ESPN broadcast team and analysts seemed to think the touchdown should not have been overturned and were not shy about it during the broadcast. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated felt the same way. Even Michigan coach Brady Hoke candidly admitted during a postgame interview that he thought the original touchdown call would be confirmed during the replay review.

What do you think?

Quick Poll

Was This A Touchdown?

All The Way! Initial Call Was Right One

Nope. Replay Official Got It Right

Replay Unclear So It Should Have Stayed With Original On-Field Call

Does It Matter? Michigan Would've Won Anyway!

VOTE

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Comments

[Joe Vigilant]

09:43 PM on 01/14/2012

The SUGAR BOWL 2012 JOKE MATCH UP between Michigan and VT never should have happened. Very disappointed with the Sugar Bowl executives on this one. This was the first Sugar Bowl to not have a team from the top 10 in college football playing in it. The payouts coming from this bowl really should have gone to higher ranked and more deserving teams who got relegated to lesser bowl games because of these sham picks. Hope everyone gives the Sugar Bowl reps a hard time about this SUGAR BOWL 2012 JOKE MATCH UP from here until the end of time.

[cplKlyde]

08:42 PM on 01/06/2012

The Big TwElveN is 4-6 in bowl games this year.

The confernce bowl record since 03:
2010: 3-5
2009: 4-3
2008: 1-6
2007: 3-5
2006: 2-5
2005: 3-4
2004: 3-3
2003: 3-5

Talk about a weak sister. They need all the help they can get.

[Neil Pittman]

09:55 AM on 01/06/2012

Sorry, but 90% ball control when the ball touches the ground is an incomplete pass. Great player, great effort, but the correct call. That play had to be overruled to an incomplete pass after earlier in the game a very close VA Tech interception was overturned because of the same type of interference with the ground. Tech fans will complain, but at least the officiating was consistent.

[Irv George]

04:32 PM on 01/05/2012

It came down to who had the better field goal kicker. Wolverines win.
That VT fake punt followed by the coaches face was precious....lol.

[J0E1]

01:04 AM on 01/05/2012

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[J0E1]

12:51 AM on 01/05/2012

That call could have gone either way.  There was NOT enough evidence to overturn either one.  If it was ruled an incomplete pass, it should have stayed an incomplete pass... if ruled a TD, it should have stayed a TD.  The fact that this ref overturned the call of a TD is enough to definitively say, VT was screwed.  If he refused to overturn an incomplete pass call, it would have been a different story.

[J0E1]

01:06 AM on 01/05/2012

Two quick pauses in the video:

Hands under: http://i40.tinypic.com/2w2jyoz.jpg

[J0E1]

01:06 AM on 01/05/2012

Elbow in bounds: http://i39.tinypic.com/25jilah.jpg
Touchdown.

[Nobrun]

02:41 AM on 01/05/2012

Pause it at 0:42

[Jcray]

10:02 AM on 01/05/2012

you missed the shot inbetween when the ball hits the ground first

[Nodogma]

11:36 PM on 01/04/2012

Not even questionable. Ball clearly hits the ground before he controls it. Beautiful effort, however.

[cooperone]

11:27 PM on 01/04/2012

Saw the game. YES, V Tech won. Worst officiated bowl game this season!

[Neil Pittman]

10:03 AM on 01/06/2012

stop crying. worst red zone offense all year.

[Joe Fortier]

11:13 PM on 01/04/2012

catch!

[1jdgriff]

11:10 PM on 01/04/2012

The "BCS" game was a travesty because, in using the BCS Ouija Board, they picked teams ranked 11 & 13 over more deserving teams ranked 7, 8 or 9. So, who cares? The BCS needs to be scrapped, after all, it is not called an NCAA Football Champioship, like all the others sports, because the BCS owns the rights. It's a joke!

[cloud567]

11:23 PM on 01/04/2012

It's a popularity contest. That's all it is, and it's all it will ever be. Michigan should never have been ranked that high anyway. This is coming from a Michigan State Spartan fan who watched my Sparties dominate Michigan, win their division, lose an extremely hard-fought Big Ten title game (against the top team whom they beaten previously), and get completely ignored by the BCS in favor of media darling Michigan. And no one here was surprised. It was expected, because the BCS is a joke, and so are the bowls.

[Jcray]

10:00 AM on 01/05/2012

Its all about who can get more fans in the arena and more people watching on TV.

[Neil Pittman]

10:05 AM on 01/06/2012

Dominate Michigan??? How many points did State beat UM by, 7 or 10? Forever the little brother of the Big Ten.

[runningduck]

10:11 PM on 01/04/2012

The problem is that his hands were clearly not underneath the football. The receiver effectively trapped the boll on the ground with his hands wrapped around the ball. This will be overturned every time. Go watch this same call on any catch where the receiver's hands are either shielding the ball from the turf or not.

[Fogy]

02:39 PM on 01/07/2012

The order of events after frame by frame review:

1) The ball is brought in with both hands/arms, then tucked with the right hand touching the ball and against his chest as the left hand moves out again to break his fall. At this point the ball is caught and controlled. Firm control is defined as the ball no longer moving under its own impetus.

2) His elbow hits the ground inbounds. This stops the play as a touchdown.

3) The ground touching the ball happened after the play was dead.

4) The refs didn't have time to watch as closely. It was a technical catch, but not a practical one.

[bonchesva]

08:47 PM on 01/07/2012

Could not have explained it any better. I have a copy of a still picture clearly showing elbow down inbound before anything else ever touched the ground.

[ImmanuelKant1]

10:09 PM on 01/04/2012

Don't you have to have complete control before the ball can touch the ground? You can see the ball bobble a little in his hands

[Bruce Myers]

10:01 PM on 01/04/2012

Virginia Tech got screwed by an official that can't, or refuses, to do his job.

[I AM THAT]

09:44 PM on 01/04/2012

The ground gave an assist.

[I AM THAT]

09:44 PM on 01/04/2012

Ball hit the ground and assisted him.