Mario Cristobal reveals Miami's stance on controversial safety ruling

The Miami Hurricanes found themselves on what they believed to be the wrong side of a no-good and very-bad non-safety call on Clemson in last Saturday’s win over the Tigers.

At this week’s press conference reviewing the Clemson win and looking forward towards the Virginia game this weekend, head ‘Canes coach Mario Cristobal was asked about the controversial sequence and whether there was any update from the ACC on whether the call was ruled properly. He merely stated: “We’re waiting on a response.”

He had also commented after the game that he thought it was a safety but said “I’ll stop there” to avoid any unnecessary drama following the big win.

So, while Cristobal and co. wait for a ruling one the call from the conference, let’s look back at this bizarre play to see what the officiating staff could have possibly seen to rule the play NOT a safety. First, take a look nat the replay of the controversial sequence right here:

There’s no way around it: Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik goes down in the end zone and his knee first touches the ground on the goal line — part of the end zone — while the rest of his body and the ball are already past the line. But here’s the thing: none of that really matters here.

Rather, this was a call adjudicated based on the forward progress rule. So forget where Klubnik lands or where his knee hits the ground or where the ball is positioned when he goes down. Clearly, that was not the criteria for this safety call.

Instead, officials ruled that contact on the tackle on Klubnik was initiated while he and the ball were still outside of the end zone, and that he fell into it as a result of the tackle. In the first second or two of that above clip, you can see the Hurricane defender start to wrap him up just before he falls down into his own end zone.

So again, the key here is that initial contact was made outside of the end zone. By the forward progress rules, Klubnik is ruled down at the furthest most point he reached before being tackled. Plus, he never re-established himself as a carrier after initial contact and was taken down, thus meaning that he is down at that furthest point forward once the tackle had begun, which appears to be just outside the end zone.

Could Miami fans complain that maybe a certain angle would show that contact was not made until the nose of the football was already past the plane? Sure! But there were no such angles Saturday night and the refs stuck with the call.

Hurricane fans, we know it’s infuriating, but the call was probably officiated correctly. Mario Cristobal likely shouldn’t expect an apology. But you know what, Miami won anyway, so he can’t be too bitter.