Alabama won Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game against Georgia, but it wouldn’t come without some controversy from the Big Ten’s officiating crew.
A pair missed calls in the second half impacted Georgia early in the third quarter against Alabama, and in the fourth quarter as well.
Georgia was incorrectly called for an offside on a blocked punt.
The first play came on the first possession of the second half — an Alabama punt on fourth-and-eight from its own 24. Georgia got a great jump on the play, and blocked the punt:
However, the Bulldogs were called for an offside, despite several Alabama players appearing to flinch right before the snap, which could’ve been a false start.
Alabama would re-kick with its gifted 5 yards, preserving a lot of field position.
On the ensuing possession after a Nick Chubb loss of 3 yards on first down, and a D’Andre Swift reception for a loss of 8, Georgia was faced with a third-and-21.
Then, a facemask went uncalled.
Swift ran for just 4 yards on the play, but appeared to get his facemask pulled by an Alabama defender on the play:
Officials would miss the call, and Georgia was forced to punt on a fourth-and-14 from its own 29.
On the next drive, Alabama would go on a seven-play, 56-yard drive in two minutes thanks to the wheels of Tua Tagovailoa, completed with a touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III.
The score made it a 13-7 game, and turned out to be an even worse break for Georgia than it initially seemed.
Alabama would later catch another break.
On a second-and-five late in the third quarter, Alabama’s Mack Wilson shoved Fromm in the back of the head after a sack.
The play should have been a penalty, and the officiating crew failed to make the call. The Bulldogs were up 20-10 at that point in the game.
Alabama tied the game on a play they shouldn’t have.
Faced with a fourth-and-four down 20-13 with 3:56 to go, Alabama appears to false start at the bottom of the following GIF:
The Tide would tie the game, and would send it into overtime after missing a game-winning kick in regulation.
A 51-yard Rodrigo Blankenship field goal to make it 23-20 got overtime started, but the Crimson Tide would throw the game-winning touchdown on their possession to win 26-23.