College football: Gators smell a zebra on no-fumble calls

The Gators (8-4) clawed their way back from a 17-6 halftime deficit in the regular-season finale for both teams.

In their minds, they probably thought they should have been ahead by that margin.

"The referees absolutely screwed us," said Gators senior left guard Shannon Snell. "Florida State, I give them credit, they played hard. But the refs took away five legit fumbles from us...The game shouldn't be decided with the referees, it should be decided on the field. They called a bad game. It was crap."

But Florida still saw the game turn in its favor with an electrifying 77-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Keiwan Ratliff -- a fumble that actually was ruled a fumble.

The score, which put Florida ahead 24-17 in the third quarter, seemed like poetic justice after the Gators had five fumble recoveries in the first quarter reversed by the officials.

But the ball bounces in funny ways sometimes.

"They call it the way they see them, and I can't say anything more about that," Gators head coach Ron Zook said. "But there were enough plays in this game that we should have made that we didn't make that we should have overcame that."

Two possessions later, Gators running back Ciatrick Fason fumbled at his own 23 and FSU's Pat Watkins ran it in for the tying touchdown. It looked like Fason may have been down before the ball came loose, but then that wouldn't have been keeping with the theme of the game.

In what looked like a comedy of errors -- and had fans, players, coaches and the media scratching their heads -- the officials almost single-handedly controlled the momentum early on.

The opening kickoff took the crowd's breath away as FSU's Antonio Cromartie returned it to the Seminoles 32 then appeared to lose the ball. But the officials ruled that he was down.

After Florida quarterback Chris Leak drove the offense deep into Seminoles territory to set up a 47-yard field goal by Matt Leach, the ensuing kickoff was even more controversial.

FSU's Leon Washington muffed it and Florida's Billy Latsko picked it up and ran into the end zone. First, the Gators' Marcus Thomas was ruled down before the ball popped into Latsko's hands, and then there was a flag for illegal procedure that negated the whole play.

"Those are momentum changers right there and the referees took the game away from us, and of course they're ACC officials," Snell said. "They need to review that film because anybody who watched that game knows what happened. I could see one or two, but there's a limit. This was the worst I've ever been a part of."

The Seminoles took advantage by driving 78 yards on eight plays and scoring a touchdown on a 35-yard pass from quarterback Chris Rix to Dominic Robinson.

On the drive, another questionable call went against the Gators as Rix hit Chris Davis on a slant pass. Davis appeared to fumble after being drilled by Gus Scott. The officials ruled it an incomplete pass, then penalized Florida's Mo Mitchell 15 yards for a personal foul.

Scott exacted a bit of revenge midway through the third quarter when he chased Rix out of the pocket and stripped him of the ball at the Florida 23. Ratliff picked it up on a bounce and scored.

In the frantic final minutes, another questionable call on a fumble deep in Florida territory allowed Florida State to go ahead 31-27 with 5:01 left in the game. On first-and-goal from the 2, Leon Washington ran up the middle, fumbled and then the refs said he recovered it. But Channing Crowder came running out of the pile with the ball.

"They told me (Washington) recovered it and our guy took it away from him after the play was dead," Zook said. "That was the explanation."

By that time the rabid Gator fans were so incensed with the officials that they began a chant insulting their officiating. After the game, as they ran off the field the officials were pelted with debris.

"They deserved it," said Snell, who didn't seem to care what sort of repercussions could come from his comments. "They absolutely deserved it and I'm sticking with my statement."