WATCH: The Refs Got It Right on Miami's Controversial Non-TD Call

There’s a big difference between a bad rule and a bad call, and a lot of people on social media are mixing the two up after last night’s epic clash between Notre Dame and Miami. With 3:36 left in the 4th quarter, and Notre Dame struggling to hold on to a 31-24 lead, Miami faced a 4th-and-6 from the 18-yard line and one last real chance to tie the game and force overtime. Hurricanes QB Darian Mensah hit Elijah Lofton in the end zone. Lofton appeared to have the ball secured and came down with both feet in bounds. However, Notre Dame’s Luke Talich knocked the ball loose as Lofton was going out of bounds. The official, mere feet away with an unobstructed view of the play, immediately ruled the pass incomplete. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal and sideline entourage, including Miami legend Michael Irvin, were apoplectic as they watched the replays from the sidelines. However, when the official emerged from the video replay, he upheld the on-field call of incomplete, and the score stayed 31-24. Notre Dame would hold on to win by the same score. Lofton did not maintain control of the ball throughout the process of the catch. Nor did he satisfy the portion of the rule that mandates the receiver make a “football move.” In fact, Lofton’s reaction suggests he realized he didn’t control the ball long enough before Talich dislodged it. Did the refs get it right? Here is the rule in question from the NCAA Rulebook. To catch a ball means that a player: 1. Secures firm control with the hand(s) or arm(s) of a live ball in flight before the ball touches the ground, and 2. Touches the ground inbounds with any part of the body, and then 3. Maintains control of the ball long enough to enable that player to perform an act common to the game, i.e., long enough to pitch or hand the ball, advance it, avoid or ward off an opponent, etc., and 4. Satisfies paragraphs b, c, and d below. c. If the player loses control of the ball while simultaneously touching the ground with any part of their body, or if there is doubt that the acts were simultaneous, it is not a catch. (emphasis added) Cristobal was not reassured that the officials followed the rules. “Really, really disappointed that they negated Elija Lofton’s touchdown with two hands on the ball and two feet in bounds,” Cristobal said. “I’m pissed off. It’s bulls***, and I’ll leave it at that. That’s the way it was seen by them. So I got to live with it and respect it, and our players got to live with it, and we got to do better. Again, don’t leave it in the hands of the officials.” The coach isn’t the only person upset. Social media was chock full of outrage and accusations that Miami had been robbed. In reality, the call was correct. People may hate the rule, and they have every right to, but the officials called it correctly under the rulebook.