Fran Brown says ACC admits blown call vs. Clemson

The play was reviewed, and that's the part driving Syracuse people up the wall. The beat writers were not quiet about it.

Mike Waters

@MikeWatersSYR

Don’t know how you can get a call wrong on a play that was reviewed. Rules officials who were part of the review should be suspended.

Tim Leonard

@Tim_Leonard4

Fran Brown says on his live radio show on TK99 & Cuse app that the ACC sent him an email to say they got the call wrong on the Steve Angeli backwards pass/scoop & score against Clemson. Should’ve been ruled incomplete pass because defender hit Angeli.

Here's the play. Third quarter in the Dome, second-and-13. Angeli gets hit as he's throwing and the ball squirts backward. Officials ruled it a backward pass, so it was a live ball. Clemson defensive end Jahiem Lawson picked it up and ran it 22 yards for a touchdown. The Tigers missed the 2-point try, but it was 18-6, and that's a big hole for an offense that was already stuck.

According to Brown on his radio show, the ACC has now emailed Syracuse to say the call was wrong. His reading of the rule book: once the defender hits Angeli in his throwing motion, it's a forward pass no matter where the ball goes. That's an incomplete pass. Syracuse keeps the ball and Clemson gets nothing.

Now look at the final score. Clemson won 18-13, by less than a touchdown, and its only touchdown of the day was a defensive score that the league itself apparently says shouldn't have counted. Syracuse even made a late push. Tight end Daunte Bacheyie caught 5 straight passes on a 4th-quarter drive that ended in his touchdown catch and pulled the Orange within one score, but they couldn't finish it.

That's why Waters is pointing at the review booth, not the guys on the field. Officials on the field get a bang-bang play wrong all the time. The replay officials had the angles, the time and the rule book, and the call still stood. That's how you end up with people calling for suspensions instead of just shrugging it off.

The loss dropped Syracuse to 4-5 overall and 2-5 in the ACC. Clemson moved to 6-3 and 4-2 in the league. In November, with bowl eligibility on the line, that game matters a lot. Angeli didn't play great either: he went 18-of-40 with an interception, and Syracuse turned the ball over too much. But an apology email doesn't change the result. The league says it got the call wrong, and the result still counts. Watch whether the ACC says anything about the review crew in public, because Syracuse fans would like to know.