Ole Miss interim athletic director Keith Carter said he was “extremely disappointed” with a Pac-12 officiating crew after the Rebels came up inches short of the goal line in a 28-20 home loss to No. 23 California on Saturday.
Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee completed a 41-yard pass to Demarcus Gregory to put the ball on the Cal 10-yard line in the final minute, and Plumlee’s third-down completion to Elijah Moore moved the ball six inches from the goal line with nine seconds left.
The Rebels were out of timeouts, and Plumlee was stopped short of the goal line by linebacker Evan Weaver on a hurried final play as time expired. A replay upheld the ruling.
Carter contended that the third-down play should have been reviewed.
“We are extremely disappointed with the officiating at the end of the game and are expecting a full explanation from the PAC-12 regarding the call and subsequent non-review of the 3rd down play,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“We feel strongly that the play should been reviewed by the PAC-12 officials in the review booth. Even if the play didn’t result in a touchdown, the spot of the ball on 4th down was questionable.”
The Pac-12 admitted an officiating error at the end of Arizona State’s 10-7 victory at Michigan State last week.
With new transparency policies put in place this summer, the league last Sunday released a statement and three-minute video, narrated by Pac-12’s Vice President of Officiating David Coleman, pointing out that Arizona State should have been penalized when a player illegally leaped over the line of scrimmage to try to block a last-second field-goal attempt, which missed.
