That and (*) will get them a cup of coffee, so they have that going for them. Which is nice.
Very late in the fourth quarter, North Carolina had the ball at its own 45-yard line trailing Wake Forest 24-18. With the clock running, taking away the spike option, and facing a 4th-and-1 with no timeouts, a handoff to Michael Carter netted a first down as the back ran for 13 yards and stepped out of bounds after time expired... or did he?
It appeared, at the very least, the replay booth should’ve taken a look to see if Carter had indeed gotten out of bounds, as some thought he had. That, though, didn’t happen and Wake walked away with the win.
Saturday afternoon, the ACC issued a statement in which it acknowledged its replay official for that game erred by not initiating a review of the final play. Not only that, but the conference stated that, if the play had been reviewed, one second would’ve been put back on the clock.
At that point, the Tar Heels may have been able to attempt a Hail Mary from the Demon Deacons’ 42-yard line. It’s unclear, however, if UNC would’ve even been able to snap the ball as, after the officials had spotted the ball, the clock would’ve restarted on the referee’s signal, not on the snap, the conference said in its release
That said, "[a]ll disciplinary measures related to the replay officials are being handled internally and the ACC considers this matter closed,” the conference’s supervisor of football officials, Dennis Hennigan, stated.
(*I have no clue how much a cup of coffee costs these days.)