It's so painful that the Jerod-Eddie was even allowed to stay on the back of the pile for this long. How inept can the officials be?
If there is even a question as to who has the ball (in my opinion, there wasn't in this case), the refs first priority should be to clear out anyone who clearly doesn't have the ball. And yet Jerod-Eddie was nowhere near the ball, laying on Cotton's legs, and a ref right behind him simply stands there like an idiot.
Jerod-Eddie should be suspended for a game, but the officials involved should be disciplined for (among other things) not making a reasonable effort to immediately clear out all players not directly involved in the fight for the ball (which included only two Aggies, if you even conclude that the recovery wasn't obvious).
And here's another thing. This is straight from the NCAA rulebook:
Team A fumbles or the ball is loose after a backward pass. Severalplayers dive on the ball, creating a “pile.’’ RULING: The covering
official(s) shall stop the clock and the 40-second clock shall start.
Upon positive knowledge of who recovered, the referee will point
in the direction governed by possession and start the game clock (a)
immediately if Team A has recovered short of the line to gain (no first
down), or (B) on the snap if Team B has recovered.
The play was over at 2:46, which means the refs should have stopped the clock until the recovery was official and possession signaled. They did not. If you claim the recovery was already deemed obvious by the officials (and thus the clock not stopped by rule) then Jerod-Eddie, Williams and Porter all should have been flagged:
A1 is tackled on third down behind the neutral zone by B1. Afterthe ball is dead, B2 piles on A1. RULING: Team B personal foul.
Penalty—15 yards from the succeeding spot. First and 10 for Team
A (Rule 9-1-2-g).
None of these three players was involved in the tackle/attempted recovery, but all jumped on the pile after the play.
Either way, the officials did a whole lot wrong on this play alone. Hard to believe, I know.
