Notre Dame-Cal officiating conspiracy debunked: Media named wrong ref in uproar

As officiating conspiracy theories go, this particular one was a doozy.

An official made a mystifyingly bad offside call that significantly aided Notre Dame in its Sept. 17 home win against Cal. A prominent sportscaster reported that the ACC had suspended the “side judge” who blew the call, only to circle back two days later with a bombshell: Not only was the alleged linesman, Matthew Fitzgerald, not suspended after all, but he worked another Notre Dame game the next week that included another dubious pro-Irish call.

Cal fans on message boards called for an investigation (or worse). Some reached out to sportswriters like this one asking to look into it, especially after word spread that Fitzgerald (because of course, the guy in the bag for the Fighting Irish would be named Fitzgerald) — supposedly worked at Notre Dame’s spring game this year. (He did not.)

It had all the makings of the Scandal of the Year, except for one little problem.

Fitzgerald did not throw either of those flags.

The play in question from the Cal-Notre Dame game occurred with 9:36 left in the second quarter and the visiting Bears leading 7-0. An offside call against Cal’s Lu-Magia Hearns III negated Irish kicker Blake Grupe’s missed 45-yard field goal, instead giving the Irish a first down. Two plays later, Chris Tyree caught a 21-yard game-tying touchdown.

Replays clearly showed that neither Hearns nor any other Bears defender had jumped before the snap. Accounts of the game aptly described it as a “phantom offside” call.

According to the official box score from the Cal-Notre Dame game, Fitzgerald was the head linesman that day, which means his jersey would have had an “H” on both the front pocket and the back of his jersey. In a video The Athletic obtained Thursday from a platform used by officials to review plays, an official standing directly in front of Cal coach Justin Wilcox on the sideline can be seen tossing the flag. While his face is not in the frame, there is an “L” on his jersey — for line judge.

The Athletic then went back and watched the NBC broadcast. While it did not show a replay of the flag being thrown, the live action shows the official with an “L” on the back communicating the call to head referee Mike Roche before Roche announces it. Moments later, cameras capture Wilcox arguing with the same official, now with his face and front-of-the-jersey “L” in full view.

The line judge that day was Hugh Campbell, not Fitzgerald. The Athletic matched a picture of Campbell from the Internet with a still frame of him talking to Wilcox.

The phantom offside was a hot topic in the minutes and hours after Notre Dame’s 24-17 win but had largely disappeared from discussion … until an apparent bombshell a week later.

Last Saturday morning, Roxy Bernstein, a play-by-play announcer for ESPN and Pac-12 Network — also a Cal grad and former Cal basketball announcer — tweeted a still frame of the infamous call and reported: “According to sources, ACC has suspended side judge from last Saturday Cal at Notre Dame who called Cal for being offside on this play. ACC apologized to Cal for error and admitted was bad call. As of now, they don’t plan on making public acknowledgment of error and punishment.” That night, he mentioned Fitzgerald by name, noting the crew from the Cal-Notre Dame game had worked that day’s Georgia Tech-UCF game without him.

According to sources, ACC has suspended side judge from last Saturday Cal at Notre Dame who called Cal for being offside on this play. ACC apologized to Cal for error and admitted was bad call. As of now, they don’t plan on making public acknowledgment of error and punishment.
— Roxy Bernstein (@roxybernstein) September 24, 2022

On Monday, however, he tweeted: “Just received information from the ACC that linesman Matthew Fitzgerald did in fact work a game this past week crewed by the conference,” following up to say it was Notre Dame at North Carolina. “He worked a Fighting Irish game for the second straight week.”

Just received information from ACC that Linesman Matthew Fitzgerald did in fact work a game this past weekend crewed by the conference. He was not with his regular crew which officiated Georgia Tech at UCF.
— Roxy Bernstein (@roxybernstein) September 26, 2022

That sent the sports media aggregation industry into high alert. “Official Who Blew Call in Cal-Notre Dame was not suspended,” wrote Sports Illustrated. “ACC says lineman from Cal-Notre Dame game was not suspended,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. (The ACC as of then had not said anything publicly.) “College football official worked Week 4 game despite reportedly being suspended for major botched call,” wrote Saturday Down South.

The conspiracy theories then ran up several more rungs because the aforementioned Notre Dame-UNC game Fitzgerald worked last weekend involved its own officiating controversy. With 10:24 left in the third quarter and Notre Dame up 31-14, Drew Pyne’s fourth-and-goal pass to Tyree fell incomplete, but a pass interference flag was thrown against Tar Heels defender Cedric Gray, giving the Irish another unwarranted mulligan. UNC coach Mack Brown was so enraged after watching the replay he drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on himself.

Brown’s reaction to the pass interference call drew him a penalty of his own. (Bob Donnan / USA Today)

Fans on the Bearinsider.com forum took notice.

“This is just beyond belief,” said Sebastabear. “Not only does the ACC not ‘suspend him’ but they put him back ref’ing for the exact same team he made the questionable call for the prior week? The one that swung the game in Notre Dame’s favor? And then he makes another call in the UNC (game) that again is super questionable and again swings the game in Notre Dame’s favor? Is this a joke?”

“So no public apology, and no suspension,” said 75bear. “Basically a big middle finger F You to Cal players, coaches, fans, our community and human decency.”

But Fitzgerald was again the head linesman for Notre Dame-UNC. The pass interference flag came from back judge Michael Griffith. Furthermore, according to an ACC source, it was actually the crew in this game that Fitzgerald normally works with. He had been filling in with another crew at Cal-Notre Dame. Campbell, meanwhile, worked the aforementioned UCF-Georgia Tech game.

None of which made it into the public sphere because the ACC never issued a public statement … until now.

“Our conference officiating protocols were followed,” Michael Strickland, the ACC’s senior associate commissioner for football, said Friday. “The ACC did not issue any public statements following the Week 3 games, but that does not mean an official or officials from the Cal-Notre Dame game have not been disciplined.”

Bernstein declined comment when reached Friday by The Athletic.

While the matter of who blew the infamous whistle on Cal is now resolved, fans will undoubtedly remain frustrated that the ACC never acknowledged its error. The problem is that it fell under the category of “judgment call,” of which there are hundreds if not thousands across the sport every week. Conferences generally acknowledge an error publicly only when it involves a failure to administer written game protocols. Like, for example, last week’s Oregon-Washington State game, after which the Pac-12 acknowledged its officials mistakenly skipped a down after a Wazzu penalty.

But behind the scenes, bad calls factor into the grades officials get, which determine the level of their postseason assignments.

Conferences do not publicize those grades. However, last season Fitzgerald was assigned to the national championship game.

(Photo: Matt Cashore / USA Today)