Written by Matt Zemek at Bloguin
A month ago, I wrote about the ball-spotting problem in college football, one of the most underreported yet significant flaws in the sport as an on-field product. This severe deficiency continues to receive very little attention from media outlets, at least when viewed through the prism of saturation coverage.
“The media” can be a vague and generalized reference, but it is meant to refer to the collective ecosystem in which a wide range of outlets exist across various platforms (principally television, radio and blogs). These outlets can (and do) choose to focus their attention on one topic if they think it will become a conversation piece, or when the conversation is essentially thrust into the media realm, giving said outlets no real choice but to continue the debate.
We have not yet come upon a moment in the existence of football when “the media” have seen fit to launch an urgent discussion of ball-spotting.
However, Saturday’s Michigan State-Michigan game — which was instructive and revealing for so many different reasons BEFORE the unforgettable, one-of-a-kind conclusion — should lead college football to drag the NFL into a new age of game administration and officiating.
One person — one great American — has banged the drum on the topic of ball-spotting longer than I have. Tim Hyland, a gifted essayist and commentator who is one of the best thinkers in the college football community, has said for years that college football officiating is based on complete guesswork when ball-spotting is the issue at hand:
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