Former NFL referee criticizes officiating in Rose Bowl

Sunday Night Football rules expert Terry McAulay worked as an NFL referee for almost 20 years. So, when something happens in a game, he’s usually quick to say if the call was correct or not.

The Rose Bowl referees certainly got his attention on Saturday night.

Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka made a nice catch to put the Buckeyes in good position to score. But the officials decided to review it — leading to criticism from McAulay on Twitter.

“Here we go again…obviously a catch,” McAulay tweeted. “No need to stop the game.”

Then, the official told the game clock operator to change the time. McAulay said that shouldn’t have happened and explained why.

“The game clock should not have been changed,” McAulay tweeted. “It is not reset if the ruling is not reversed or if it is outside 2 minutes of the 2nd qtr or 5 minutes of the 4th qtr. An exception is an egregious timing error. 4 seconds in the 1st qtr is not considered an egregious timing error.”

Ohio State ended up scoring on the drive to cut the Utah lead to 14-7 in the second quarter of the Rose Bowl on ESPN.

Former NFL referee sounds off on clapping to call for snaps

In the first quarter of Friday’s Cotton Bowl, Cincinnati was called for an offside. The foul happened after Alabama quarterback Bryce Young clapped to call for the snap — leading to one former NFL referee to weigh in on that technique.

Terry McAulay, who works as the Sunday Night Football rules analyst on NBC, criticized referees’ decisions to throw a flag on the defense when the opposing quarterback claps to snap the ball. He laid out his argument in a Twitter thread during the game.

“The defense is penalized when the offense uses the clap to call for the snap and the defense interferes by clapping,” McAulay tweeted. “So, the QB should not be allowed to clap unless the ball is snapped. It simulates action at the snap and should be a false start. #StartThePlayFair”

In a subsequent tweet, McAulay pointed to the rule about quarterbacks and false starts. The rule states, “The quarterback making any quick, jerky movement that simulates the beginning of the play” constitutes a false start.

“The Alabama QB has done this several times,” McAulay tweeted. “CFB is far too lenient with QB’s [sic] in a shotgun. Yet another unfair advantage for the offense.”