Referee Accountability

[Augustus]

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job,

$1000/day is pretty darn good money for three hours of real work.

That said, given all of the money being thrown around college football these days, I would have no problem paying them more...provided they do a good job. And, perhaps that's a partial solution - Reward or penalize financially.

[Augustus]

What’s your evidence of unacceptable officiating in yesterday’s semi except for Bobcat fans complaining?

Watch the game objectively. Sorry, that's a big word for a Missoula Community College fan. It means, with an unbiased eye. Crap...unbiased is pretty big too...this could take all day.

[allcat]

People always post about bad refs, but don't try reffing themselves. Hell I ran chains one time in highschool and screwed it up one time. If they are being paid then get a better job,so you can pay them more.

[91catAlum]

Funny how the NDSU coaching staff and team members have no complaints about yesterday’s officiating, but Bobcat fans do. This “referee accountability” thread sounds like a Rudy Giuliani special.

1. Coaches and players are not allowed to discuss officiating publicly.

2. It isn't just Bobcat fans talking about the officiating. Nice try though.

What’s your evidence of unacceptable officiating in yesterday’s semi except for Bobcat fans complaining?

I never claimed the officiating was "unacceptable", there are bad calls in every game. I'd say it was inconsistent, though. And I don't think it's out of line for fans to discuss the officiating after a game with some calls, and non-calls, that impacted the game. It doesn't invalidate your win, the griz did what they needed to get it done. But the offensive PI on ndsu where there was almost 0 contact was a huge swing in the game. Also the non-call of a false start on your long FG. The TV announcers even pointed it out. The non-call on the final play. It's not consistent to let this one go but call ndsu for the OPI. Either call both or let both go.

In retrospect I don't think the overall officiating was that bad, had they not called the OPI on ndsu. If you're gonna let them play then let them play. Don't call a drive killing OPI on 1 team and then let a PI go on the other team.

To answer your question I've seen ndsu fans complain on this board, on Twitter with the final play, and on their forum. If you're really interested, start here on their GameDay thread.
http://www.bisonville.com/forum/showthr ... ls)/page45

[Griznationalist]

So … the only people complaining about the officiating in yesterday’s Griz win are … fans of the losing team (NDSU) … and Bobcat fans. There’s no statement by the conference. There’s no statement by the schools. There’s just a lot of complaints from fans who don’t like the Griz or ESPN’s declaration of UM’s stadium as the Mecca of FCS football. This thread is hardly an objective or accurate critique of FCS officiating.

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

So … the only people complaining about the officiating in yesterday’s Griz win are … fans of the losing team (NDSU) … and Bobcat fans. There’s no statement by the conference. There’s no statement by the schools. There’s just a lot of complaints from fans who don’t like the Griz or ESPN’s declaration of UM’s stadium as the Mecca of FCS football. This thread is hardly an objective or accurate critique of FCS officiating.

Let's assume your premise is correct, and everything in this thread is nothing more than sour grapes (which I'm not admitting is the case)...but let's just say.

It doesn't matter to you. You won. You're going to Frisco. You've had a terrific season and are getting to watch the Griz team in a long LOOOOONG time.

Which means your only business here, in this thread, is to troll.

You're a troll.

be quiet. Go away.

[BleedingBLue]

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job,

$1000/day is pretty darn good money for three hours of real work.

That said, given all of the money being thrown around college football these days, I would have no problem paying them more...provided they do a good job. And, perhaps that's a partial solution - Reward or penalize financially.

The bolded portion is the problem. Sure $1000 a day is great. But it's not like that's all the time they're putting in. Travel Friday, at the field for 7 ish hours Saturday. Travel Saturday/Sunday. Game film Sunday/Monday and studying when not working their normal job. Everyone wants them to be great, but they honestly don't get paid enough to be great. The BSC officials have to do additional testing, on field time etc. for no pay in the offseason.

[Griznationalist]

So … the only people complaining about the officiating in yesterday’s Griz win are … fans of the losing team (NDSU) … and Bobcat fans. There’s no statement by the conference. There’s no statement by the schools. There’s just a lot of complaints from fans who don’t like the Griz or ESPN’s declaration of UM’s stadium as the Mecca of FCS football. This thread is hardly an objective or accurate critique of FCS officiating.

Let's assume your premise is correct, and everything in this thread is nothing more than sour grapes (which I'm not admitting is the case)...but let's just say.

It doesn't matter to you. You won. You're going to Frisco. You've had a terrific season and are getting to watch the Griz team in a long LOOOOONG time.

Which means your only business here, in this thread, is to troll.

You're a troll.

be quiet. Go away.

Your first paragraph is correct. I agree there is no evidence of poor officiating in yesterday’s semi.

You could have stopped there, but you proceeded with some erroneous statements about trolling. The truth is, it is not trolling to ask someone for credible evidence in support of his assertions about deficient officiating in the FCS.

[TomCat88]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On Bergen TD the ball doesn’t need to be inbounds when it crosses the plane. Or is that just the nfl? I think The plane extends oob. If he dives with both feet in then it’s a TD. Not percent sure tho

[onceacat]

I bet this thread doesn’t exist if the Cats swapped places with the Griz and win last night. Lots of threads and posters trying to solidify our ‘little brother’ status lately.

Just using last nights game as the latest glaring example of a yuge problem. It doesn't matter that it was the gris/NDSU or the Cats/Sac State or Notre Dame/Michigan. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. There is (or should be) accountability in every other line of work, yet these folks are just allowed to walk.

Serious question, how does it get addressed? Where are the better refs that could be hired instead? Do we want a game where all penalty calls are reviewable and games take 5 hours to play?

It starts at the Junior High & High School level. Pay is about $50/game to start plus one way mileage. You are lucky to get snow shoveled or dog poop picked up in Bozeman for $50/hr.

If we want good officials, we need to 1) train them and 2) pay them. Who on this thread wants to get cussed out by entitled helicopter parents for $50/game?

The legislature & governors office have a lot of competing priorities for taxpayer money...increasing officials pay is REALLY low on their list.

[onceacat]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On Bergen TD the ball doesn’t need to be inbounds when it crosses the plane. Or is that just the nfl? I think The plane extends oob. If he dives with both feet in then it’s a TD. Not percent sure tho

John Madden was always adamant that the goal line goes on forever & doesnt end at the out of bounds, but I don' think thats correct.

This says the goal line ends at the sidelines in the NCAA.

https://rulebook.github.io/en/rules/2/s ... end%20zone.

[onceacat]

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job,

$1000/day is pretty darn good money for three hours of real work.

That said, given all of the money being thrown around college football these days, I would have no problem paying them more...provided they do a good job. And, perhaps that's a partial solution - Reward or penalize financially.

The bolded portion is the problem. Sure $1000 a day is great. But it's not like that's all the time they're putting in. Travel Friday, at the field for 7 ish hours Saturday. Travel Saturday/Sunday. Game film Sunday/Monday and studying when not working their normal job. Everyone wants them to be great, but they honestly don't get paid enough to be great. The BSC officials have to do additional testing, on field time etc. for no pay in the offseason.

Do they get mileage & travel per diem? $1000 doesnt seem like a lot IMO.

[BleedingBLue]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On Bergen TD the ball doesn’t need to be inbounds when it crosses the plane. Or is that just the nfl? I think The plane extends oob. If he dives with both feet in then it’s a TD. Not percent sure tho

The goal line is a vertical plane, it doesn't extend beyond the out of bounds lines. Ball has to cross inside/hit the pylon to be a TD.

[TomCat88]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On Bergen TD the ball doesn’t need to be inbounds when it crosses the plane. Or is that just the nfl? I think The plane extends oob. If he dives with both feet in then it’s a TD. Not percent sure tho

The goal line is a vertical plane, it doesn't extend beyond the out of bounds lines. Ball has to cross inside/hit the pylon to be a TD.

K. Just thought that. Must’ve been from listening to Madden as mentioned. First and G from the 1 if no TD right?

[catsack]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On the failed 2-point effort by NDSU, 82 was masquerading as a blocker after the QB handed off the ball. 82 (TE) initiated contact with 8 (CB), 82 attempts to pull down 8 (offensive holding) and run through him, 8 keeps "clean hands" on 82 through play (within 5 yrds of line of scrimmage is legal), 82 loses balance - 8 disengaged - ball is thrown (in that order, which is important on the call).

Good explanation just don’t think the cats understand that

[onceacat]

Serious question, how does it get addressed?

I don't know. I'd be happy to hear some suggestions.

Folks that are on forums complaining about the officiating (not trying to be rude here) picking up a whistle and becoming an official. Every sport has major shortages in officials. Football is hurting the most. The BSC can't suspend a crew because they have 1 back up crew most weeks and that crew would no longer have an off week. There's nobody out there ready to come up to the BSC because there are so few officials everywhere. It's impossible to even be considered for a DI officiating position unless you pay your own money to go to camps and be seen, or know the right people with ins.

Fans and lack of reasonable payment have turned people off to officiating. Varsity football in MT pays $75 a game, yet you are required to attend at least 6 study clubs throughout the year and test your rules knowledge every couple years until you test up to "Master" official. It's not a part time 2 1/2 month job. You have to know the rules inside and out, which means studying on your own time throughtout the year, attending clinics and camps. The typical varsity game requires you arrive to the field roughly 75-90 before game time to go through pre-game, get dressed etc. Officials have to be on the field 30 minutes before the game, and the game takes roughly 2 hours. On a good day you make $25/hr for a varsity game in your town. When a Billings crew travels to Miles City, the 4 guys who didn't drive get about $25 extra for travel. Driver gets the federal milage rate. You leave town at 345, and get home at 1130, and make $100.

The BSC pays $1550 a game, and officials are responsible for their own travel, hotel, and food out of that money. Depending on where an official lives, they net $600-$1000 for a game. They arrive at the field 3 - 3 1/2 hours early, walk the field, do a pregame test and watch warm-ups. They are required to review their game film after each game and maintain their rules knowledge the entire year.

Frontier Conference officials get $250 a game, flat fee. Doesn't matter how far you travel. $250 a game for college football! What a joke.

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job, and/or more people pick up a whistle and help with the shortage.

Thanks for the detail. And, a reminder, officials need to work sub varsity games for 2-4 years before reffing varsity games, and I'm guessing 10+ years to be a BCS ref?

[BleedingBLue]

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job,

$1000/day is pretty darn good money for three hours of real work.

That said, given all of the money being thrown around college football these days, I would have no problem paying them more...provided they do a good job. And, perhaps that's a partial solution - Reward or penalize financially.

The bolded portion is the problem. Sure $1000 a day is great. But it's not like that's all the time they're putting in. Travel Friday, at the field for 7 ish hours Saturday. Travel Saturday/Sunday. Game film Sunday/Monday and studying when not working their normal job. Everyone wants them to be great, but they honestly don't get paid enough to be great. The BSC officials have to do additional testing, on field time etc. for no pay in the offseason.

Do they get mileage & travel per diem? $1000 doesnt seem like a lot IMO.

The pay is $1550 for a game, flat rate. They pay their own travel, hotel and food out of that. There is 1 BSC official in Montana at this point in time. He nets $600 - $800 on games not at MSU or UM. Because of flight costs close to the date, he always flies to Salt Lake, Denver and Spokane, because if you are unable to make it to a game due to bad roads it's an automatic suspension. Late season games in Moscow and Flagstaff the conference has mandated officials fly into those 2 places directly because of the weather. There used to be 12 BSC officials residing in MT. A couple have retired, the rest moved specifically for officiating. The guys in the bigger metro areas usually net $700 - $1000. It's definitely not a lot for the work they do all year. I was interested in becoming a BSC official until I learned about the pay.

[BleedingBLue]

Serious question, how does it get addressed?

I don't know. I'd be happy to hear some suggestions.

Folks that are on forums complaining about the officiating (not trying to be rude here) picking up a whistle and becoming an official. Every sport has major shortages in officials. Football is hurting the most. The BSC can't suspend a crew because they have 1 back up crew most weeks and that crew would no longer have an off week. There's nobody out there ready to come up to the BSC because there are so few officials everywhere. It's impossible to even be considered for a DI officiating position unless you pay your own money to go to camps and be seen, or know the right people with ins.

Fans and lack of reasonable payment have turned people off to officiating. Varsity football in MT pays $75 a game, yet you are required to attend at least 6 study clubs throughout the year and test your rules knowledge every couple years until you test up to "Master" official. It's not a part time 2 1/2 month job. You have to know the rules inside and out, which means studying on your own time throughtout the year, attending clinics and camps. The typical varsity game requires you arrive to the field roughly 75-90 before game time to go through pre-game, get dressed etc. Officials have to be on the field 30 minutes before the game, and the game takes roughly 2 hours. On a good day you make $25/hr for a varsity game in your town. When a Billings crew travels to Miles City, the 4 guys who didn't drive get about $25 extra for travel. Driver gets the federal milage rate. You leave town at 345, and get home at 1130, and make $100.

The BSC pays $1550 a game, and officials are responsible for their own travel, hotel, and food out of that money. Depending on where an official lives, they net $600-$1000 for a game. They arrive at the field 3 - 3 1/2 hours early, walk the field, do a pregame test and watch warm-ups. They are required to review their game film after each game and maintain their rules knowledge the entire year.

Frontier Conference officials get $250 a game, flat fee. Doesn't matter how far you travel. $250 a game for college football! What a joke.

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job, and/or more people pick up a whistle and help with the shortage.

Thanks for the detail. And, a reminder, officials need to work sub varsity games for 2-4 years before reffing varsity games, and I'm guessing 10+ years to be a BCS ref?

These days, at least in the Bilings pool, we have 1st year guys working varsity games in class C and B. It's not ideal, and frustrating for coaches, but we don't have a choice at this point. There's some Fridays where we have 10 or 11 varsity games to cover. With only 60 or so officials in the pool, nearly everyone is expected to be availabke and work Friday night.

As far as becoming a BSC official; ability, on field look (fitness), how you carry yourself and rules knowledge are more important than experience. I know one crew has a Field Judge who's in year 2 as a BSC official and only had 4 years of HS and Juco experience in CA. He knew the right person, has the right look and knows the rules. He wouldn't even have been looked at 10 years ago, but he was the best option for a crew that had an opening.

[onceacat]

College football will never have great officiating, especially at the FCS level, unless offcicials are paid a wage comparable to a full time job,

$1000/day is pretty darn good money for three hours of real work.

That said, given all of the money being thrown around college football these days, I would have no problem paying them more...provided they do a good job. And, perhaps that's a partial solution - Reward or penalize financially.

The bolded portion is the problem. Sure $1000 a day is great. But it's not like that's all the time they're putting in. Travel Friday, at the field for 7 ish hours Saturday. Travel Saturday/Sunday. Game film Sunday/Monday and studying when not working their normal job. Everyone wants them to be great, but they honestly don't get paid enough to be great. The BSC officials have to do additional testing, on field time etc. for no pay in the offseason.

Do they get mileage & travel per diem? $1000 doesnt seem like a lot IMO.

The pay is $1550 for a game, flat rate. They pay their own travel, hotel and food out of that. There is 1 BSC official in Montana at this point in time. He nets $600 - $800 on games not at MSU or UM. Because of flight costs close to the date, he always flies to Salt Lake, Denver and Spokane, because if you are unable to make it to a game due to bad roads it's an automatic suspension. Late season games in Moscow and Flagstaff the conference has mandated officials fly into those 2 places directly because of the weather. There used to be 12 BSC officials residing in MT. A couple have retired, the rest moved specifically for officiating. The guys in the bigger metro areas usually net $700 - $1000. It's definitely not a lot for the work they do all year. I was interested in becoming a BSC official until I learned about the pay.

Drywall hangers in Bozeman net well over $600/day. Makes sense.

I'd be interested in being an official too...but I'd need about $150/game at the sub varsity, $250 for varsity, and $2500-$3000 for college to even consider it.

[BleedingBLue]

Let's just take yesterday's game, for example. Bergen's "TD" on the corner was not a TD. The ball did not cross the plane. It was under his outside arm and his inside shoulder hit the pylon. It did not break the plane. Would they have eventually scored anyway? Probably, but who knows? It wasn't even looked at. An NDSU receiver made an identical approach to the corner and it was ruled not a TD.

57 minutes with zero penalties called against the gris (despite countless holdings and blocks in the back). That just doesn't happen, especially in a tough playoff game.

The completely BS offensive PI call on NDSU where he didn't even touch the defenders, AND, he/they were not even the intended receivers nor were they within 10 yards of the intended receiver.

The tackling of the intended receiver in the end zone on the last play was probably the most egregious, and...not called.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Without question, these referees had their fingers on the scale of this game, whether it was intentional or not. We have no idea how it would have turned out had it been called accurately, but I suspect that the outcome would have been different.

So where is the accountability? What happens to these guys (and now girls ) when they screw up so badly that it affects the outcome of a game? Something MUST be done to address this.

Again, I'm not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different yesterday, but the game should be fair. When you lose fairly, that's OK. When you don't, it leaves a very bad taste, and someone should be held accountable. In a game such as football, it's likely never going to be perfect, but it should be one whole hell of a lot closer to perfect than it is.

Also, I think someone should check the bank accounts of the refs for yesterday and look for suspicious deposits. No, I'm not kidding.

On Bergen TD the ball doesn’t need to be inbounds when it crosses the plane. Or is that just the nfl? I think The plane extends oob. If he dives with both feet in then it’s a TD. Not percent sure tho

The goal line is a vertical plane, it doesn't extend beyond the out of bounds lines. Ball has to cross inside/hit the pylon to be a TD.

K. Just thought that. Must’ve been from listening to Madden as mentioned. First and G from the 1 if no TD right?

Most guys will mark it at the half yard line depending on how close it was.