This is the hill I will die on. I have a shirt that says “IT WAS A CATCH” with the date and I regularly wear it just HOPING someone will say something. I was at that game, in that corner of the end zone. It was a catch. And if you’re the 1% that thinks it wasn’t, then is there enough evidence to over turn the ruling on the field? They straight up Bonnie and Clyde’d us on national television.

I’m still mad about this.

Still really hard to watch,

I don't remember danny coale dropping a big catch his whole career. Damn i hope we have football this year.

Obvious TD, guess who was in the replay booth. He was a Michigan guy.

Still makes you made this many years later. Great catch Danny!

I still agonize over this. This was the worst replay call in the history of college football.

This makes me want to explode

This one still rankles. I was there.

Michigan pays good money to those refs each year ….

There wasn't enough evidence to review it.

@HTTR4LIFEBnG you are right, there is no evidence. However, being blind as a bat as I am, I would have called the play incomplete on impact without the review. Yeah, college rules are weird, when you are down, the play is dead.

I think he was robbed but he also showed incredible class and control of his emotions after the replay verdict was announced. Good to see a player not pitching a fit and acting like a spoiled child when things don't go their way.

Michigan had no business winning that game.

Why do we care about the catch part? It's clear that regardless, he was out of bounds.

@ConsumingFire39 The ball can move, but only if the receiver has "firm control". Which he clearly doesn't. It's resting between his forearms, and not at all securely. It's not even close. Now, if you're arguing that there's not indisputable evidence to overturn--I still disagree with that... but it's also a philosophically weak point to argue from. You're essentially saying that the refs should have stuck with being incorrect.

It was a lame game anyway,the Hokies didn't deserve to be there. I wish they would've let a couple of good teams play in the Sugar Bowl.

Fucking drop definitely a drop 100% a drop fuck tech

@ThaRealUSC the ball can touch the ground as long as it does not aid in the catch or cause a fumble it's a catch as long as possession of the ball has been made and was never lost.

Wrong. Obviously a horrible call.

a decade later and I'm still furious. LETS GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That referee needs to review what “indisputable evidence” is...that was a catch as called on the field

I'm actually a comitt to VaTech and they took away more then just a win for that team. they took away a career night for danny and his senior classes last chance at a twelve win season..

@ARepublicanVictory for a team that wasn't "all that" they sure stomped Michigan statistically. They shouldn't even have been in the game. People on here are right. Michigan is done with Urban in OSU.

I am a Michigan fan for over 50 years.....that was a TD

@rhb24 So I suppose you believe his elbow that hit the ground right before that did not make him down at that exact moment? The ball was caught, at any rate those replay angles were not enough to over turn this.

@sports9111 Ball is allowed to touch the ground, as long as it doesn't aid in the catch. He had possession going to the ground, but it did move a bit when he touched the ground. I've seen this go either way, it all depends on the officiating.

I do not think that there is enough evidence to overturn the play, but the ball did hit the ground and it did look like he lost possession for a split second.

absolutely terrible call.

@Picdas I will say this Picdas. From a VT fan to a Michigan fan. I'm glad this seemed like a respectable "chat." It's nice to actually just say our comments respectfully and move on rather than dealing with idiots who want to argue and call each other stupid. I've overall been impressed by Michigan fans and I was not from Clemson. I LOVE Michigan's drum line and enjoy watching Michigan football. Clemson I grew up watching on the side, but their fans made me lose all respect for them.

Read the NCAA rule book people! The ball can touch the ground and the catch is still good. If you watch his hands on the first angle... he has full possession of the football. He catches it with his right and his left hand secures it. At the moment the catch is good no matter if it hits the ground. The only way it could be incomplete is if he "DROPPED" it after he caught it. The ground never aided him in the possession of the football, if anything it almost made the ball pop out of his hands.

@dudeman100ful Boise got boned. How do you finish at #7 and not get a BCS game? Meanwhile, VT gets creamed by Clemson and gets the Sugar? Not good. I'd have rather seen Boise and Arkansas in the Sugar, and Michigan vs K St in the Cotton. VT maybe against ASU then. Either way, the pairings leave you scratching your head this year.

Denard* stupid auto correct

@TheWolverine4life yeah and most UM fans I know are classy people. Luckily I won't associate them with you.

@ARepublicanVictory Um, what's your point? We are talking football. Duke sucks in football, but is great in b-ball too. So? As for Michigan being ranked, they are done. OSU and MSU will be only teams in final 8. And SEC or ACC wins that. So beat it.

VT fan here so first Congrats to Michigan on the their win. Do I think Coale made a TD? YES! However, there were several bad coaching calls made, and Hokies making other mistakes so that is why we lost. Also, congrats to Myer for a heck of a game. He has nothing to hang his head about! Still proud of my HOKIES for giving it their best shot.

@HTTR4LIFEBnG not to mention Coale's elbow hit the ground first.

pretty sure they reviewed it.

@RavensFan2812 lol yep, urban's freshmen will definitely be the difference. same goes for alabama. btw, michigan's recruiting class is ranked 7th in the country, one spot behind ohio state i believe, so in terms of recruits, the two are pretty evenly matched. also, it's true msu won with defense, but they also scored 28 points (i realize one td was scored on defense). a main part of that offense was their qb. and as for nebraska, i don't think a 28 point beat down is considered a fluke...

@dudeman100ful They got TROUNCED by that team twice. They played a weak ACC schedule. Boise deserved a game in a BCS more than them or Michigan. Not sure how Bama and LSU ruined anything. They are the top two teams in the country. Why would Boise get Bama? I could see them playing Arkansas or even Stanford. But Bama deserves LSU again. No one else comes even close.

@ConsumingFire39 what i meant to say is that VT could have had a chance to win the game because if they would of made the field goal and then Michigan made it there would have been more overtimes and VT could have won it after that

That's exactly what is wrong with college football today!

@PowerRangers12345 to me, it appeared he caught the ball and never lost possession, the ball did touch the ground(non fumble type of way and the ground did not aid in the catch either) but so did his elbow right before that...in college you are down when any part of your body comes in contact with the ground. And in order to over turn a play there has to be irrefutable evidence...which as you said...there is not.

@Picdas Yes, VT made some terrible mistakes and when you are up 6-0 keep the momentum and kick the FG to make it 9-0. Then punt and make your defense continue their good work. However, there was also a false start on the kicker on mich trick play so...Oh well. I love Danny Coale, and will always love and support my Hokies! I mean you pretty much have to deal with it since this happens to us EVERY YEAR!

Ok first of all, look at his elbow, it hits in bounds before he goes out, second it was called a touchdown on the field so they need indisputable evidence to over turn it. That WAS a catch, he clearly had possession of the ball and hit in bounds first even if he didn't, that is not indisputable.it was a blown call tough to see Danny coale go out like that, he's a Hell of a player.

@ConsumingFire39 I would say the ball rotating 45 degrees is a good indication that he didn't have firm control of it.. Now, go grab a football and try to hold it firmly between your forearms in the method Coale was trying to at the angle he was. You can't.

You know... I'm a Virginia Tech fan. I do think he was robbed of the catch, but Logan Thomas also could've thrown it better so Coale had a better chance of roping it in for a clear TD. Just the way it follows. Good game Michigan, Go Hokies!

What about all the games the winner loses? or the games the losers win?

@ConsumingFire39 Re: False start on the kicker, NFL kicker Jay Feely said that he didn't think it was a false start, although he certainly is biased. I think you are right about the missed hold on Gibbons on the fake though. I imagine the refs were just as confused as everyone else and that's why they missed it. Plenty of holds were missed on VT though too, as they are in every game.

I dont care for either team. However, that catch by Coale was an awesome catch. VT got hosed.

@SuperMaggie01 If you didn't realize by now, The Sugar Bowl is all about money. They picked two teams that have the biggest fan base.

@RavensFan2812 So is your argument that although it moved enough to not be consider a catch by the letter of the rulebook, that it wasn't enough to overturn the call? And I've seen them call much more obvious "catches" as incomplete too. Anecdotal evidence of other things has no weight here. Besides, VT got their fair share of nice ref looks too. EG the 4th and 11 conversion had two blatant illegal hands to face penalties not called that would likely have stopped the conversion

@TheWolverine4life I was perfectly content with losing that game, I was heartbroken, but I was proud of the way Virginia Tech played. I found dignity in losing that game because I respect Michigan football. In fact, UM is probably my favorite program other than VT. I respect the hell out of their fans (bar you). I'm not criticizing Michigan at all, I'm pointing out facts that no one can deny. But instead of us having an intelligent convo, you can't do anything but call names and act immature.

at 2:54 and a half seconds you can clearly see the nose of the football hit the ground. This is the textbook definition of the ground aiding the catch. If he could have stopped the nose from hitting the ground and causing the football to shift up further then yes clear catch. Do I think it should have been turned over absolutely not the call on the field should have stood.

Replay Official: Jim Fogltance, He's been known for controversial replay officiating. How Fogltance ever got a job officiating again is dumb...after having been reprimanded and kicked off Pac-10 fields (but inexplicably was allowed to go to the replay booth) for both blatantly poor and biased calls. He was in the replay booth with the Allstate CEO Tom Wilson(Michigan alumni) at the time of review and wrote him a big fat check!

Vt got screwed it was a touchdown hands down

The ball touched the ground and moved. It's so obvious. Watch the replay angle at 2:45. The ball abruptly moves into his chest due to impact with the ground.

AConsevatoryVictory, you mad bro?! haha damn its a whole new year and that doesn't effect last year at all

@ThaGlittersAintGold He never had control of the ball though

@RavensFan2812 See: mgoblog .com/sites/mgoblog .com/files/Screenshot3.gif as proof that the ball moved. If you don't believe it after that, you're blind. And Michigan didn't play in the Sugar bowl because of a pro-Michigan bias. Michigan played in the Sugar Bowl because of money, i.e. because Michigan fans travel well to the bowl games. The refs were Pac-12 refs.

@akbrown15 Ball hit the ground without his control

i love all of the comments on here displaying lack of knowledge about the rules yes the ball can hit the ground, but if you watch, the ball is vertical in his arm, when it hits the ground, his arm stays in the same position for a split second, but the point of the ball goes to the right, so the ball moved as seen at the :50 second mark yes you are down when you hit the ground in the NCAA, HOWEVER, like the NFL, if you are diving or being hit to the ground

WORST call in college football history. The anouncers clearly say, that's a touchdown. WTF is the ref thinking? Again bad officiating causes us to lose easy wins for us. It's getting rediculous!

@RavensFan2812 even though im a VT fan i do believe boise should have got a harder team

Still one of the worst calls I've seen to this day. Should have been a catch

@TwilightWonder i agree 100%, it was incomplete on multiple levels, the ball does appear to have touched the ground and it appears as if it aids him in catching the ball

@akbrown15 I understand if thats peoples opinions but it just seemed like that all the people who commented on this video were acting like that they knew it was a catch and that VT would of automatically won after that.

His elbow was down before the ball hit the ground, should have been called a TD

@ARepublicanVictory sure they do. A catch and/or field goal away from the Super Bowl. Now I know you dont know what the hell you're talking about.

@RavensFan2812 i personal think the sec is the best conference but the acc is not a weak conference because the acc has the most players in the pro bowl and the most defensive players in the NFL now boise conference is one the weakest

I'm not a fan of either team really since I went to Maryland and VT is our rival. But this call was HORRIBLE! I absolutely HATE when a ref decides a game. Could Robinson have come back with a TD of his own? Sure. But let him! How can ANY official, as a minimum, overturn a call that is that close? They may have been able to get away w/ it if initially called incomplete. But there's nothing to overturn that call and it's CLEARLY a TD. Yes, the Hokies got screwed. They need to bounce that official.

@Picdas there is no way that the ground helped him catch that ball. He definitely had it.

@TwilightWonder cant find it. BTW, you're missing the point. The call was way too close to overturn. THey called it a TD to begin with. So stop stumping for the wolverines. They suck. Check their stats out. THey were lucky to be in the game at all.

@TheWolverine4life Did you even watch the game? Hokies defense fucked Denard up. He had the lowest amount of yards rushing in a game all year, and picked him off three times.

2012**

Urban Meyers last few years contained 2 bcs wins and a sugar bowl win. I watched denied, he got crushed compared to how he usually plays. 2 TD's don't make up for the wolverines poor performance

@mike8087 wrong answer

I go to VA Tech, and that was not a catch. The nose of the football hit the ground and it tilted as he caught it. The Hokies blew this game with that stupid fake punt in the 4th quarter.

@rhsstate2006 agree 100%

@RavensFan2812 vt only lost to one team twice so i understand why they got in their game but LSU and alabama ruined the whole bcs bowl series if there was a different team in their then maybe boise could have got alabama or something but VT was really good this year

Ball hit ground

Still mad about that one...

Truth is, neither of these teams deserved to be there. Boise got hosed and could've WHIPPED either of them. How a #7 team doesnt make it to a BCS game is beyond me. System sucks. Give us a fuc*ing playoff already!!!

@RavensFan2812 i dont think boise is that good i think if they were sent to a bcs game the would loose

@ksnyder1984 he didnt catch it out of bounds. What the hell is the matter with you? I've even slowed it down frame by frame. Refs screwed them.

That's definitely in. Where do they get these refs??

At 0:50 you can't really be trying to tell me that the ball didn't hit the ground, the referees know whats right and its fucking annoying that a bunch of stupid bias fans think it was catch only because they wanted VT to win. The ball hit the ground and he used the ground to catch it so stop trying to tell me otherwise.

@TheWolverine4life nonethelesss, I'm done arguing here. Good Luck to Michigan, I love the program and hope y'all pick up some great recruits tomorrow and grab a B1G championship. Brady Hoke is going to do some awesome things.

@playerricky4 actually, Meyer has a top recruiting class coming in. Ref Alabama, they r NEVER depleted. Perhaps u missed the nat champ where they held LSU behind the 50 the whole game except for 1 play. Sabin will always have lights out D so Michigan is done. Look at stats against the Hokies. U guys are lucky u squeaked out of there w a win against a team that should've never been there. & as I remember it, MSU beat u guys w D. Nebraska will bounce back from that fluke & rail u guys. Good luck

@mike8087 actually, I"m not a Tech fan & I DO know the rules. The refs got it WRONG on many ends. The biggest one is overturning a call w/out indisputable evidence. The ball CAN touch the ground. It doesnt mean it helped him catch it. The catch was amazing & a TD. End of story. Would Michigan have come back? Probably. But letting the refs decide the game is BS. I've even heard rumor that the Sugar Bowl exec is a Michigan alum. In my opinion, neither team deserved to be there. But VT got hosed.

@ccokeisdaman Look at his elbow

Hokies get Robbed in OT..... Sounds like that book called "THINGS LOSERS SAY"! Ball touched the ground - any compotent person saw that! GEAUX BLUE!

Wait are you saying that Michigan is beyond horrible. And this beyond horrible team beat VTech?? And you are 5-6 this year hahahahah

One of the worst calls in history

it was NOT. ORIGINAL CALL ON THE FIELD: COMPLETE. Not enough to turn it over on review. END OF STORY.

@ConsumingFire39 I think I'm in the minority because I think most people looked at it casually and not closely and by the letter of the rule. Tell me which part you disagree with here: A) The nose of the ball hits the ground. B) The ground causes the ball to shift. C) The ball shifts more into his arm/chest. D) He is trying to pin the ball against his chest with his right hand. E) The ground aids in that. I think all 5 of those points are indisputable & they add up to no catch.

@TwilightWonder that ball was a catch. It didnt move. Not enough to overturn it anyway. Enough said. The Sugar has a pro-michigan bias which is why they played there anyway. Tech should not have gotten the nod to begin with , but sure got screwed. And I'm not Tech fan.

@SECarolina1996 you're right, the ball, at 0:50 did touch the ground, but at 0:49 his elbow touched the ground which should have ruled it a TD

whether you are a tech fan or a michigan fan, you have to realize that that is a catch. If michigan had that catch go against them i would be on their side as well, of course not as adamant as i am for va tech, but still... it was a catch

@dudeman100ful They are both weak conferences. I went to an ACC school and we are a basketball conference to be sure, but football not so much. Sure, they make some noise but winning a championship is pretty much out of the question any time in the near future. Also, Boise could kick the crap out of any ACC team. If anyone got screwed out of a BCS bowl, it was them.