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Rules analyst Terry McAulay blasts ACC refs for mishandling roughing the passer call in Clemson-Pitt game

On3 imageby:Andrew Graham•11/16/24•

AndrewEdGraham

NCAA Football: Pittsburgh at Southern Methodist
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The ACC referee crew on the Pittsburgh–Clemson game didn’t cover themselves in glory in the fourth quarter, with a bit of clumsy officiating drawing the ire of Panthers fans in the 4th quarter. Rules analyst Terry McAulay joined the fray calling out the crew.

Hopping on social media, McAulay noted multiple faults with the play where Pittsburgh quarterback Nate Yarnell was hit in the face/head and a penalty wasn’t called until well after the play and officials had “discussed” it. And after intense protest from Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi.

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“Complete chaos,” McAulay said. “Obvious missed unnecessary roughness foul. Coach on the field arguing officiating decision is not penalized. Unnecessary roughness foul eventually called minutes later during injury timeout. None of this is acceptable.”

ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough criticized the officials for not throwing a flag.

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“I don’t know how they missed that. I mean it’s clear as a bell to everybody in the stadium,” Sean McDonough said of the no-call. “It’s just outrageous that there’s no flag on that play.”

However, after several minutes of discussion, a penalty flag was thrown for unnecessary roughness, leaving Clemson coach Dabo Swinney understandably unhappy.

McDonough didn’t like the way that was handled, either and referenced the Georgia vs. Texas game from a few weeks back.

“Yea, after discussion. After we look up and see it on the replay board and realize we missed it, we drop the flag,” McDonough said. “We now have officiating off scoreboards in stadiums.”

You can check out the controversial play below:

Clemson would ultimately hold on for a 24-20 win, coming from behind after Pitt took a 20-17 lead with a field goal to finish off the drive where Yarnell was hit in the head, kicking off the chaos.

But win or lose, the dysfunction of the officials in that moment — one of many this season — will likely stick with those involved as they move into another week of prep.