Bad Officiating | Righting The Wrong in Sports Officiating » College Football

Open Letter to the SEC

refpolice — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:20:57 +0000

One of Bad-Officiating’s more dedicated members, David Jhaver, has penned the letter below to the SEC Commissioners Office:

Please take a minute to paste the link at the end of the letter into a new browser and and sign the petition.

Good morning,

I stopped watching the NBA because of fighting and poor officiating. I stopped watching MLB, because steroid-use (cheating) is widespread and happens to be illegal. I don’t watch the NHL, because hockey is sort of boring to me. I used to watch the NFL more often, but I’ve become obsessed with college football over the years, and that all started when I went to LSU in the early part of the decade.

I am now begging you: please do not further compromise the integrity of the most competitive football conference in the NCAA. Damage has been done, but apologies and admittance of wrong-doing can go a long way to un-taint the image that is clearly being drafted of the SEC by the national media. There is no way that anyone who is not in the bag for either the University of Florida or the University of Alabama is going to believe that something corrupt isn’t going on in our conference, and there are plenty of people from those aforementioned schools that know, in their hearts, that an injustice is currently being served.

Over the years, football has become America ’s pastime. The sport is especially huge in the southern part of the country and in the Midwestern part of the country. College football, in particular, offers its fans something more than the NFL does, in that the kids that play the game play for each other and for school pride. These kids are apparently being cheated out of glory, and that goes for the kids on the teams that are being given calls in order to allow them to advance.

Both Alabama and LSU were cheated on Saturday night. Every single person that has seen the replays from Patrick Peterson’s 4th quarter interception knows that BOTH of his feet were in-bounds while he had possession of the football, and this knowledge exists within those who support Alabama and who will adamantly insist that the missed call had little-to-nothing to do with the outcome of the ballgame. No one honestly believes this, though, and so a great contest was ruined.

If the SEC has purposely been setting-up a showdown between two undefeated teams in the Conference Championship, then the integrity of the conference, league, and game have been shamefully defiled. LSU has much vested interest in the success of the conference and of our football team, and we proudly stand in defiance of any agenda that the conference may have that includes ANY ballgames not being exclusively decided by the players on the field. If simply being a member of the conference isn’t enough, I’d say that having brought the conference two BCS National Championships should give us the credibility and honor that we deserve.

Please do not continue to ruin something that millions of students, teachers, families, and various other people from all walks of life feel so passionate for. Football is too important to the history and future of daily life in this country for the games to be fixed. The treason needs to immediately cease, and admittance of wrong-doing needs to be publicly addressed to ensure future viability of the conference in regards to public and, most importantly, personal perception. We, the SEC, are not a conference of liars and cheaters.

http://www.secsports.com/the_sec/

We, the SEC, are supposed to be a conference of integrity and sportsmanship.

Please Sign petition here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bad-officiating_SEC/

SEC Commissioner Fines Urban Meyer $30,000 for Criticizing SEC Refs

refpolice — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:14:48 +0000

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is on his heels with this whole SEC officials disaster, and now he’s fighting back. After Florida Coach Urban Meyer whined about a late hit on his boyfriend Tim Tebow last week, Slive hit him with the fine. Since the money means nothing to Meyer, it seems obvious that Meyer was trying to deflect attention from the other SEC mess: Gator Brandon Spikes being caught on tape trying to gauge out a Mississippi players eyes during a pile-up in last Saturday’s game. Is this the WWA or the UFC? Meyer, decided to suspend Spike for half a game instead of a whole game (why not the whole season? It was pathetic to watch and he’d be thrown in jail if this happened on the streets). Another figure the SEC circus is Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin, who has been disciplined twice already this season for complaining about bad officiating in the SEC. But this has gotten ugly for the whole SEC conference and disciplining coaches and officials is the last thing Mike Slive wants to be doing. But since his officiating crews can’t seem to get it right, that what he is stuck doing.

SEC Officials Under Fire: Mississippi State Coach Speaks Out

refpolice — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:36:23 +0000

With comments that are sure to draw a response from league commissioner Mike Slive, Mississippi Coach Dan Mullen spoke out against the officiating crew that called the Florida – Miss. State game. Specifically, he singled out the replay officials and misuse of the replay process as a tool for improving officiating. Mullen cites a play in the fourth quarter where the Gators scored on an interception, but replays showed that the ball appeared to be stripped before he crossed the goal line. Had officials reviewed it, the play would likely been overturned giving Miss. State the ball back. This is the second time in 2 weeks SEC officials have made blunders benefiting undefeated Florida in close conference games. In addition, undefeated Alabama dodged a bullet when officials declined to flag Terrance Cody from ripping off his helmet in celebration while the game’s final play was still live. Naturally, critics are citing favoritism by officials who may be trying to rig an all SEC BCS title game by sending the nation’s 2 top-rated teams into the SEC Title game undefeated. Whether there is a conspiracy or not, Slive better clean-up the SEC fast because while it has the best football in the country, it also has the worst officials in the country, and the two are becoming hard to separate.

Home SEC officiating Crew Bails Out #1 at home again

refpolice — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:13:19 +0000

After blocking a game-ending field goal, the giant Terrance Cody ripped off his helmet and begun his celebration. Only trouble is, it is illegal to do that and the Volunteers should have been awarded 5 yards and another kick to win the game. Excessive celebration could also easily have been called, and the Alabama Crimson Tied lucked out in Tuscaloosa. This is the second strait week a #1 home SEC team was on the verge of upset defeat before the referees bailed them out with a bad or missed call. Conspiracy theorists are going to be busy again this week as they speculate as to why the SEC can’t seem to throw the flag (or not throw the flag) again their SEC BCS meal ticket. Last week the SEC suspended the crew from the Florida-Arkansas disaster, let’s see how they react to this one.

SEC Suspends Florida-Arkansas Officiating Crew

refpolice — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:16:27 +0000

In an unprecedented effort to diffuse criticism and accusations of protecting their star team and meal ticket to the BCS Title game, the SEC has suspended the crew involved the the two suspicious calls in the 4th quarter of the Gators-Razorbacks game last week. This is a nice gesture, but it doesn’t change the outcome, and those bad calls did change the game’s outcome and thus saving their golden Gators from embarrassment at home and ruining the SEC BCS party. Fortunately, the fans know this was obvious favoritism and hopefully over the next few weeks the coaches will think of this as the cast their polling votes. Sadly there is no algorithmic component to the BCS formula that compensates for gave-saving referee blunders, at least not yet. So, the SEC is still the best conference, but hopefully since the microscope is now on the officials we’ll get to see those teams prove it fair and square.

Two terrible Calls Bail out Florida against Arkansas

refpolice — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:05:07 +0000

Trailing by 7 with 8 minutes to play in the game, Florida benefited from two bad calls that allowed them to score a late touchdown and tie the game. After Arkansas misses a long field goal, Florida marched doenfield and kicked a game winning field goal as time expired, preserving their unbeaten record and #1 ranking. The first call was a pass interference in the end zone, which replays showed should NOT have been called and the commentating crew agreed. The very next play featured a block far away from the play that was inexplicably called roughing against Arkansas. Coach Bobby Petrino was livid as he sensed the game getting away from him after leading the whole way. These two bad calls combined for 30 yards and arguably cost Arkansas the upset victory. If and when the Gators make the BCS Title game later this year, they can look back and thank these referees for doing their part.

Lagarrette Blount Knocks Out Player After Oregon Gets KO’d by Boise State

refpolice — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:43:33 +0000

After decking Boise State linebacker Byron Hout with a mean right cross after a dismal effort by the Ducks, the Oregon athletics department has suspended Blount indefinitely. In fact, as his teammates tried to restrain him and get him into the locker room before this ugly incident got any worse, Blount stayed on the field and continued to taunt both fan and players. Not a good start the college football season. Boise State coach Chris Peterson said Hout would be disciplined as well for taunting and baiting Blount into punching him. Referees will have to decide how much smack talk they’ll tolerate this season after this one. Seeing guys get punched out is not what college football wants people to see. We all know it goes on all the time, but Blount just stepped up the stakes and the microscope – and cameras- will be on everyone.

Bad Calls Lift Trojans….Again

refpolice — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:52:18 +0000

If you saw the USC-Cal game last at the LA Colesium, you no doubt noticed 3 things: Patrick Turner caught a touchdown pass in the second quarter to put USC up 10-3 Replays showed that Turner bobled the catch and the ball it hit the ground, a reviewable play that would have been overturned had it been renewed, But for some reason, the team of referees did not review the play, and the Trjans got 7 points they didn’t deserve. Both commenatators, Chris Spielman and Sean McDonough, repeatedly wondered outloud why the play was reviewed. This is why the Pac Ten is the laughing stock of the college football. The teams stink and the referees are even worse. To make matters worse, the touchdown in question came 2 plays after a 20 yard pass play to tight end Anthony McCoy showed him stepping out bounds after the catch, and referees spotting the ball 8 yard further downfield than they should have. The actual and correct spot of the ball is also reviewable, but again for some reason, it was not reviewed. But the big doozy came in the third quarter when Cal score the apparent tying touchdown on a well-excuted screen pass. A late flag came flying, and the refs called it back hitting the Bears with a “Ineligible Man Downfield” penalty without indicating the uniform number of the offender. Replays showed no lineman leaving the line of scimmage, and once again both Spielman and McDonough harped on about the injustice. So the game-tying touchdown was taken off the board for no reason and with no explanation. The referees went on to call a comic 18 penalties against both teams, ruining the tempo of an already ruined game. Is it unreasable to wonder out load if these Pac Ten refs, with Alabama struggling and Penn State loseing earlier in the day, tried to get a team from their conference to Miami by “blowing” game changing calls? Let us not forget last year’s West Virginia-Pitt game, and now let ask the question: Why is instant replay making collge football officiaiting worse than it was?

Holdy Pitt!!!

refpolice — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:25:13 +0000

Even though Pitt was able to successfully complete their improbable upset over an inept West Virginia team and ruin their BCS Championshiop Game bid, anyone who saw it cannot ignore the disturbing way the game’s outcome kept getting extended. With Pitt leading and with the ball with 1:38 to go in the 3rd quarter, running back LeShaun McCoy broke a spectacular run on third down from 13 yards out for a touchdown that put the Panthers up by 10, but a very late flag flew in and it was called back. Replays showed (and commentators agreed) that the holding call against wide receiver Oderrick Turner was dubious, and Pitt settled for a field goal that missed left. Score remained 10-7 and Pitt coach Dave Wanstedt was fuming. Later in the fourth quarter with the BCS Championship drama building, Turner was called for offensive holding again, incredibly, on a third and 4 run that would have earned the Panthers a first down and iced the game for Pitt. Again the late flag, again the suspicious holding call, again new life for a West Virgina team that didn’t deserve it. Just as an insult, officials failed to call pass interference on WVA against Turner on the very next play. So WVA was alive, and only more bad play after a good punt return kept them from scoring and winning the game. What college football fans who saw this game should be worried about is that it appears some sort of fix was in, because it certainly looked like the referees were doing everything they could to keep WVA in the game. Replays showed exceptional blocking technique and execution from Turner, yet he was called for holding twice, both on late flags, on hugely pivotal plays in the game. To us here at BadOff, this one stinks we cetainly hope someone in the position has the balls to find out why.

Coaches & ADs Speaking Out

refpolice — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:01:29 +0000

Any time coaches and ADs in big division 1 conferences start openly questioning the integrity of college football officiating, it’s time to take note. That is because coaches know they’re going to get fined whether they are right or not about the officiating, but they speak out anyway. That’s because they’re right: college football officiating, particularly this past weekend, stinks. In particular, it seems that officials, for whatever reason, aren’t making propoer use of the instant replay tool made available to them (Ohio State vs Illinois and Oregon State vs. Washington). Suspect timing of offensive holding calls raise even more troubling questions (Texas Tech vs. Texas) because of potential point shaving and gambling implications. Perhaps it is too early to use the NBA approach in calling for background checks on all officials, but somehow there needs to be a way for the right call to be made and made in time so that the game’s pace and outcome isn’t altered. Kids train too hard for too long to have their dreams shattered by a ref who doesn’t like using instant replay. Coaches, fans and players demand a lot of themselves to get prepared to play a great game at such a high level. Why then, is it too much to ask of the same from the officials? The fault and burden of responsibility resides at the conference level, and so far the Pac 10 seems to be bringing up the rear with complaints after just about every game. Let’s hope they get it right soon, because one day something terrible and heartbreaking is going to happen, much like it did in the NBA, but by then it will be too late for a lot of fans.