Down With Geriatric Replay Officials

Back in my day we didn't have any of this fancy video stuff. Our instant replay was re-enactments by the local street urchins. And the sun was hotter. Where are my Werther's Originals?

I'm sure this will make Temple, one of the six teams in the country with a longer active losing streak than Notre Dame, but the MAC has admitted it screwed Temple:

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Mid-American Conference yesterday admitted that its officials blew the call when a touchdown reception by Owls wide receiver Bruce Francis was disallowed with 40 seconds remaining in the team's 22-17 loss to host Connecticut on Sept. 15.

The most infuriating part of the whole thing is that they went to replay, and despite it being completely, absolutely obvious that the guy's foot was in bounds the ruling on the field was allowed to stand. Michigan fans have seen this a couple times. In 2005, the worlds' most obvious incomplete forward pass was ruled a fumble that Domata Peko returned for a touchdown. This was reviewed and allowed to stand. At the time it was the worst call in college football history (since all the really atrocious calls before it hadn't been reviewed). It is no longer after the Oregon-Oklahoma onsides kick fiasco, which was also the doing of a well meaning but desperately old retired former official.

Maybe conferences should stop deploying decrepit old people to squint at these monitors? No reviewable plays require a knowledge of the rulebook beyond that of most serious observers. Surely there are some guys younger that JoePa who can be employed to not screw up critical calls. Clearly this old guy stuff isn't working out.