There were plenty of spotty calls by the officials in Chapel Hill, but that I-wasn’t-looking-but-I’m-sure-the-field-goal-was-no-good moment took top honors. You can see again for yourself here around the 2:50 mark in the Part II video.

In fact, I wonder if that moment of staggering negligence rivals the biggest blown calls ever? Sure, there have been many mistakes over the years — but how can an official turn his head to look away from the ball and goal posts and then emphatically signal “no good”? Without instant replay, the Hoos would’ve lost the freakin’ game because of that guy’s inability to understand the basics of his jobs: watch the play, then make the call.

Maybe time has made the impact (or my memory) of historic screw-ups fade, but usually mistakes are subjective — a ref sees something incorrectly in that one-second blur of action. The blown field goal call wasn’t one of those mistakes since he didn’t see anything. He plainly (and blantantly) made an outcome-changing call without bothering to look. That’s almost lying, isn’t it? I think this mistake ranks right up there with the Fifth Down game. Not in terms of import (that game helped give Colorado a national championship share), but in terms of sheer WTF-itude.

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