In the third quarter Garbers threw a little pass out to the left to Noa who caught it behind the line and gained five yards on the play. The stats detailed on the Cal Bears website credits Noa with a five yard rush. But slo-moing the replay shows that Garbers released the ball on the Cal 24 and Noa caught it on the 25. It was a forward pass, not a lateral. Noa should be credited with another five yards receiving, bringing his total to 98 for the night, and Garbers should be credited with another completion. Question--does anyone go over the recordings of games and correct stats errors? There must be occasional errors in every game.

I think catches behind the LOS are counted as rushing.

ddc_Cal said:

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I think catches behind the LOS are counted as rushing.

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Really? Even if it's a forward pass? Like a screen pass? Those are rushes if the ball is caught behind the line? I doubt it. Also watching again, it looks like Noa actually controlled the ball at the 26, which was the line of scrimmage.
But my real question is, are stats errors ever corrected after the fact?

ddc_Cal said:

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I think catches behind the LOS are counted as rushing.

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Not true. Jim is correct - if the pass is forward, it's a pass. If it's lateral or behind, it's a rush.

JimSox said:

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In the third quarter Garbers threw a little pass out to the left to Noa who caught it behind the line and gained five yards on the play. The stats detailed on the Cal Bears website credits Noa with a five yard rush. But slo-moing the replay shows that Garbers released the ball on the Cal 24 and Noa caught it on the 25. It was a forward pass, not a lateral. Noa should be credited with another five yards receiving, bringing his total to 98 for the night, and Garbers should be credited with another completion. Question--does anyone go over the recordings of games and correct stats errors? There must be occasional errors in every game.

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Okay, continuing to watch, got a way better one. First play of the fourth quarter. Cal has the ball, second and eight, at the BYU 17. Here's the description of the play on the Cal play-by-play website:

Garbers, Chase pass complete to Laird, Patrick for 10 yards to the BYU7, 1ST DOWN CAL (ANDERSON, Zayne;WARNER, Troy).

Unless Garbers changed his jersey to number 5 and decided become African-American for a play, that is clearly McIlwain not Garbers throwing that pass. I don't have a link to the video, but could someone please post it for all to see. So McIlwain was not 5 for 7 for 38 yards. He was 6 for 8 for 48 yards. And the completion that Garbers should have been credited for in the third quarter can now be subtracted because of the one he mistakenly got here. I can see where mistakes are easy to make in a fast-moving game, but I repeat my question. Does anyone go over this stuff after the fact and correct errors? If so, who and when?

Yes, they do. It is up to the team to update the statistics and send it to whoever they want to send it to. I think the NCAA and the other team, basically. Not going to update the new reports or private web sites, though. Generally happens right away, or within a day or two.

Oski87 said:

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Yes, they do. It is up to the team to update the statistics and send it to whoever they want to send it to. I think the NCAA and the other team, basically. Not going to update the new reports or private web sites, though. Generally happens right away, or within a day or two.

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Good. I figured someone had to, because mistakes are easy to make. Do you know where the corrected stats and play-by-play might be posted so I can check it out?

Good catches Jim! Hopefully someone on the football staff will notice this and alert the correct people.

FuzzyWuzzy said:

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Good catches Jim! Hopefully someone on the football staff will notice this and alert the correct people.

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Thanks, Fuzzy. But it ain't corrected yet! It's Tuesday afternoon as I write, and the stats on the Cal website still have McIlwain 5 for 7 for 38 yards and Noa with 93 yards receiving. Both stats wrong.

JimSox said:

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FuzzyWuzzy said:

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Good catches Jim! Hopefully someone on the football staff will notice this and alert the correct people.

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Thanks, Fuzzy. But it ain't corrected yet! It's Tuesday afternoon as I write, and the stats on the Cal website still have McIlwain 5 for 7 for 38 yards and Noa with 93 yards receiving. Both stats wrong.

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Fake stats, smh. Can't believe anything The Man tells us any more.

I emailed the Chron's Rusty Simmons about this today, and he was nice enough to give me a prompt response. He said the coaching staff goes over the game video, and if they spot anything amiss with game stats, even just participation lists, they will alert Media Relations. The folks there will contact the opponent's media relations department, and if they agree that there's an error, then they will jointly petition the NCAA to make a change. So it's a process. I emailed someone in the AD's office in charge of football communications, but no response yet. Not sure I asked the right person.

JimSox said:

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I emailed the Chron's Rusty Simmons about this today, and he was nice enough to give me a prompt response. He said the coaching staff goes over the game video, and if they spot anything amiss with game stats, even just participation lists, they will alert Media Relations. The folks there will contact the opponent's media relations department, and if they agree that there's an error, then they will jointly petition the NCAA to make a change. So it's a process. I emailed someone in the AD's office in charge of football communications, but no response yet. Not sure I asked the right person.

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Correction--I did indeed get a prompt response from Kyle McRae in the AD's office, but I didn't notice it until now because it somehow went into my spam file. Kyle said that although the home team is usually responsible for the stats he is personally taking the lead on making the corrections and several other changes, too. I look forward to seeing the corrections. And I'm glad to know that correcting stuff doesn't depend on some random guy like me noticing errors, but that people with responsibility are actually on the ball about making sure the record is accurate.