This Terrible Call Could've Cost Notre Dame the Texas A&M Game

How does the replay crew miss this? It's the call that almost screwed up the Irish.

Aug 31, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (13) attempts to pass the ball during the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

The spot of this football was awful to begin with

With the game very much in doubt and Notre Dame driving near midfield, Riley Leonard ran the ball on a 4th down play and had most, if not all, of his body and the ball clearly beyond the yard-to-gain marker. However, Leonard was ruled short of the yardage to gain.

This on its own is a bad call by multiple referees who should have been in position to clearly see that Leonard was well beyond the line to gain. They didn't. While this is frustrating, human error in the heat of the moment occurs. People are sympathetic to that. But how can the replay crew miss the call too?

The replay booth at Notre Dame - Texas A&M decided that this replay wasn’t conclusive enough to give Notre Dame a first down.

Scandalously bad. pic.twitter.com/rPMwiiwtWi

— College Football Watcher (@CFBWatcher) September 1, 2024

Does the replay booth not have the same camera angles as everyone else?

Getting a call wrong in real-time is one thing, but not correcting it on replay is another problem altogether. How could the replay booth see the still image we can see from the TV copy and not conclude that the ball was erroneously spotted?

Does this crew not have access to the same images we have at home? I'd hate to believe that was the case. This sequence was a huge momentum swing at the time and Notre Dame is lucky to have escaped this situation without getting burned by it, but I'd still like some clarity of exactly what the replay booth saw that the public didn't.

Fortunately, it all turned out okay.

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