I did not have to reach far into this week’s college football games before enough strange rulings surfaced to give me plenty to write about.

The first happened in Friday’s Texas-Texas A&M contest in College Station. The play in question is somewhat complicated.

Early in the third quarter Texas, after trailing 13-6, drove for a touchdown. On the try for extra point, the holder either muffed the snap or there was a bad snap &045; I couldn’t tell.

At any rate, when the ball was rolling free, the kicker kicked the loose ball, which rolled into the blocking and charging linemen. It then rolled into the end zone, where it was covered by an A&M defender.

The officials then ruled that a safety had been scored, which awards the attacking team (Texas) one point when it happens on a try for point. The officials ruled a defender had actually recovered the ball before it crossed the goal line, then fumbled it back into the end zone, where an Aggie recovered it.

I question the call because from all appearances the kicker kicked a loose ball, which is a foul. The penalty is 15 yards from that spot and also is loss of a down.

That means that the try would be no good, and A&M would have retained their 13-12 lead. The rule in question is NCAA Rule 9 Section 4 Article 4, &uot;Illegally Kicking Ball.&uot; In part it reads, &uot;But if a player holding the ball for a place kick loses possession during a scrimmage down, it is a fumble and a loose ball.&uot;

The first line of that article reads, &uot;A player shall not kick a loose ball.&uot;

One cannot say for sure if that play had a bearing on the outcome of the game, but maintaining even a one-point lead might have boosted the Aggies’ hopes enough for them to hold on.

Saturday’s Georgia-Georgia Tech contest again proved to me that the NCAA should quickly move to require neutral officials for major intersectional games. Since Tech quit using SEC officials and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference, their game with Georgia has been officiated by a crew from the conference of the visiting team.

Thus the officials for this year’s game were from the ACC. The fact that Georgia was penalized 11 times might not be pertinent, but some of those penalties kept Tech in the ball game.

An irony is that at the end of the game Tech’s quarterback thought he had a third down when it was actually fourth down, and he threw the ball away to gain another play.

The real irony is that a couple of generations ago Alabama did the exact same thing in their game with Tech, allowing the Yellow Jackets to escape with a 7-6 win over the Tide.

It might take a long time, but what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?

Since Georgia did win this year’s game with Tech, the officiating will soon be forgotten. Neutral officials can, and will, make mistakes, but the perception of bias should be eliminated by the NCAA. It works for all bowl games, and with the importance now put on all games, neutral officiating crews should be mandated.

And that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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