WAC suspends replay official who goofed

Thu Nov 5, 5:26 PM EST
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DENVER (AP) — The Western Athletic Conference has suspended a replay official for one game after he failed to overturn a call in a game last weekend between San Jose State and Boise State.

Official Michael Goshima's one-game suspension will go into effect this weekend.

The suspension - the first of a WAC replay official since the NCAA implemented instant replay in 2006 - was based on a play where a runner was ruled short of a first down and Goshima's review incorrectly upheld the ruling on the field.

The WAC said that upon further inspection, ``the runner clearly made the first down and the call should have been reversed.''

``The WAC expects the same type of performance from our instant replays officials as we do from the on field officials,'' Commissioner Karl Benson said in a statement. ``And while errors are going to occur both on the field and in the replay booth when they do, there must be accountability.

``Instant replay is used to get it right on the field and in this case the official had a chance to reverse a call at a very critical time in the game and did not. Thus, he will be suspended for his next assignment.''

In 2003, the WAC suspended an entire crew for a series of mistakes at the end of a game between San Jose State and Hawaii.

The Associated Press