23-Year ACC Veteran College Football Referee Resigns in Frustration Over Replay Sequence

It wasn’t just the flag that referee Gary Patterson threw on Saturday. It was the replay process that stalled the game. According to ESPN, the 23-year ACC veteran, who had been wearing the white hat since 2002, has quit and walked away from the conference. People are pointing at the U-Conn-Syracuse game, where a sequence showed that the replay booth and command center were not in sync with the zebras on the field. It made fans question the competency of the replay process established by the ACC.

So here’s what happened, per ESPN. Syracuse QB Steve Angeli is on the line with 1:02 left in the half at their own 25 yard line. He then drops back on first down to pass and gets his arm hit. But the ball is flung eight yards forward, and the refs ruled it incomplete. The clock has stopped. But 25 seconds of real time is there for the officials to see the play. With the Huskies up 14-3, the Orange get everyone ready for second down. They snap the ball and Angeli almost throws a pick. Now it’s third and 10. But a flag gets thrown. Maybe there was a foul by one of the teams?

Viewers saw Patterson speaking to someone for almost 90 seconds through his headset. It was the ACC command center. The referee then announces that the previous first down will be reviewed. “Replay had buzzed in prior to the previous play.” This move is completely against the spirit of the game. If a snap is completed, no previous plays can be challenged from then on. This is why offenses hurry to get the snap off because they know the catch by their WR on the previous play could be reversed if the refs get too much time to review. Did the command center not buzz in time?

Sources who went through the footage could not find physical indications from any official that they had been buzzed on time. An ACC spokesperson confirmed that the officials were buzzed but admitted the timing wasn’t ideal for a seamless replay. Gary Patterson was forced to erase second down like it never happened. Then he reviews first down, confirms the pass was incomplete, and essentially nullifies a whole snap of live football. That’s when frustration boiled over because refs are supposed to have discretion here. Instead, the referee was stuck cleaning up an error from people sitting far away with headsets and monitors, while he looked like the one fumbling basic officiating protocol.

To make it worse, ESPN rules analyst Bill LeMonnier came to Gary’s defense. According to him, this wasn’t on Gary Patterson. He says the fault rather lies with the  replay booth and command center. “Let’s say they’re right up at the line, the ball’s being snapped, and the buzzers go off. It’s the referee’s discretion to shut the play down vs. saying it’s too late. It’s supposed to be in the referee’s hands,” he said flatly. “The mistakes were completely created by either the replay booth or the command center. It’s not the fault of the officials on the field.” Also, remember that flag thrown for a high hit on Steve Angeli post the cancelled second down? Yeah, it vanished into the void, ignored despite being enforceable even as a dead-ball foul. So not only did the replay mess wipe away a play, but it also wiped away a penalty that should’ve mattered.

Gary Patterson apparently had enough of being a scapegoat. He terminated his contract with the conference. He’d been scheduled to ref the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia this week, but someone else will get the whistle now. The ACC later confirmed his departure and tried to downplay it as business as usual, but losing a guy who’s been in stripes since 2002 because your command center can’t sync a buzzer is a warning shot.

After the whole rewind-and-replay mess, Syracuse marched 61 yards and nailed a field goal before the half, later winning 27-20 in overtime. The call didn’t decide the game, but the optics are brutal. Gary Patterson walks away from a 23-year career not because of a missed PI or a bad spot, but because the conference command center was unable to properly manage a replay process.