Controversial call costs Ohio State a fumble return TD against Clemson

Did officials botch this crucial call in Ohio State vs. Clemson?

If Ohio State loses its College Football Playoff semifinal against Clemson, this crucial overturned call in the third quarter will never be forgotten by Buckeyes fans.

With Ohio State trailing 21-16 after giving up 21 unanswered points to the favored Tigers, the Buckeye defense appeared to come up with a game-changing fumble recovery for a touchdown to take the lead.

Clemson receiver Justyn Ross appeared to catch a pass from Trevor Lawrence and took multiple steps with the ball in full control before Ohio State’s Jeffrey Okudah stripped the ball away. Ohio State recovered the ball and ran for a touchdown, and the play was ruled a fumble recovery on the field.

After a review, however, officials ruled that the play was an incomplete pass, which wiped six points off the board and allowed Clemson to safely punt the ball away on the next play.

ESPN’s rules expert adamantly argued that the play was obviously an incomplete pass, but fans were baffled that Ross was not ruled to have possession of the ball, given that he made a clean catch and took multiple steps before Okudah knocked the ball away.

According to the NCAA rulebook, this is the definition of a catch:

ARTICLE 3. a. To catch a ball means that a player: 

1. Secures firm control with the hand(s) or arm(s) of a live ball in flight before the ball touches the ground, and 

2. Touches the ground in bounds with any part of his body, and then 

3. Maintains control of the ball long enough to enable him to perform an act common to the game, i.e., long enough to pitch or hand the ball, advance it, avoid or ward off an opponent

Did Ross maintain control of the ball long enough to perform an action common to the game? Ohio State fans certainly think so.

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