Football
Associated Press 16y

C-USA sides with ref in response to Tulane complaint

NEW ORLEANS -- Conference USA officials on Wednesday said
referees in the Tulane-Memphis game got the call right when they
kept the clock running after the Green Wave completed a pass along
the sidelines late in a 28-27 loss to Memphis on Saturday.

The league announced its findings a day after Tulane coach Bob
Toledo said he had sent video of the play to conference
headquarters as part of a formal complaint.

Toledo thought officials should have stopped the clock, or at
least made it clear they intended to keep the clock running, after
Gabe Ratcliff's catch at midfield with 17 seconds left in the game.

But the league said it confirmed with Dave Parry, the national
coordinator of NCAA football officiating, the call was correct
because the player was pushed out of bounds backward from the point
of forward progress.

"A player pushed out of bounds backward is marked at his
forward progress on the field and the clock continues to run," the
statement said. "In addition, the mechanics used by the official
who made the call were correct."

Tulane had a time-out remaining and Toledo said he intended to
save it for another play while the Green Wave tried to get into
field goal range.

While Tulane huddled, thinking the clock would be stopped until
the next snap, the referee signaled for the clock to start as soon
as the chains were moved to mark the new first-down distance.

Neither Toledo nor quarterback Anthony Scelfo realized the game
clock was running again until Tulane's offense came to the line of
scrimmage with about 7 seconds left.

Scelfo ran a play instead of using Tulane's last time-out. He
was tackled after scrambling 5 yards and the game ended.

Toledo, who has coached in college for more than three decades,
said when a team is in a hurry-up offense, officials usually make
it clear if they intend to keep the clock running immediately after
any play that ends near the sideline.

To do so, they generally make a winding motion with one arm
after the tackle, then temporarily stop the clock to reset the
chains, Toledo said.

In this case, the line judge only waved his arms above his head,
indicating that Ratcliff was out of bounds.

Conference officials said the rules do not require officials to
do any more than they did, but that they would "continue to
emphasize the importance of clear communication between the
officials and coaches regarding clock management and encourage the
use of the referee's microphone."

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