College Officiating

[arrowryan]

I think it needs its own thread now. Officiating has been so bad across all of college football, but I have seen blatant bullshit calls go against Notre Dame multiple games in a row.

-Josh Burnham’s phantom face mask penalty on 4th and short.

-The “completed” pass against NC State, that even got upheld after review.

-The entire Boise State game

-Hinish getting tackled by an offensive lineman against A&M

-Love face mask and horse collar on the same tackle. Neither were called.

You all get the point. It’s terrible, but it’s not just against our Irish. Here are some other comical missed calls from today:

 

[IrishLax]

It's the worst that it has ever been and it begs the question whether the refs are involved in betting shenanigans. Some of the stuff is easily explained by incompetence but others ... specifically things like the NC State incompletion ... defy all reason.

 

[arrowryan]

 

[irishff1014]

First they don’t need to be conference refs.

Second they need to start being fined and suspended

 

[MacIrish75]

First they don’t need to be conference refs.

Second they need to start being fined and suspended

At the very least, not having conference officials would subtract one layer of implied impropriety.

 

[Bluto]

Given the amount of money being thrown around college football these days I’d be shocked if officials were not involved in doing anything inappropriate.

 

[Dale]

 

[Dale]

Hot take: I didn’t hate this as a Roughing call. Yes it doesn’t need to be called BUT it was the second time for the same player. He clearly had a thing about going in helmet first on purpose to try to spook Carr. He was trying to make helmet contact, but no body contact. Was he “roughing” no but he was just being a dick that would fall under unnecessary at least

 

[Huntr]

Hot take: I didn’t hate this as a Roughing call. Yes it doesn’t need to be called BUT it was the second time for the same player. He clearly had a thing about going in helmet first on purpose to try to spook Carr. He was trying to make helmet contact, but no body contact. Was he “roughing” no but he was just being a dick that would fall under unnecessary at least

And he pointedly kept his arms down both times, in order to hit him with just his body and make it seem less egregious.

That play shouldn't have been RTP, but that asshole knew what he was doing.

 

[Jeffwantpoppers]

And he pointedly kept his arms down both times, in order to hit him with just his body and make it seem less egregious.

That play shouldn't have been RTP, but that asshole knew what he was doing.

That should be flagged for personal foul every time. He was late and hit with his helmet, even if it wasn’t a big hit.

 

[Redbar]

Given the amount of money being thrown around college football these days I’d be shocked if officials were not involved in doing anything inappropriate.

This. Exactly this. Let’s not pretend the rise in obviously bad calls is not correlated to the rise in sports betting. The general public will have 100’s of millions of dollars riding on these games, which means organized gambling houses have hundreds of millions riding on these outcomes. Schools will invest hundreds of millions for certain outcomes. And the guys making sure this billion dollar industry is fair and above board are making about 61k per year…the f outta here. You telling me these professional officials can’t even get it right (almost every time) with the assistance of review?? Not buying it.
In a world of Belichek’s and Stallions’ where WWF is sport and profitable storylines trump actually outcomes where if you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying, from the highest offices on down, these guys most responsible for outcomes ,outside of the actual participants, making 60k are keeping things in line??

 

[SportsingHard]

I think it needs its own thread now. Officiating has been so bad across all of college football, but I have seen blatant bullshit calls go against Notre Dame multiple games in a row.

-Josh Burnham’s phantom face mask penalty on 4th and short.

-The “completed” pass against NC State, that even got upheld after review.

-The entire Boise State game

-Hinish getting tackled by an offensive lineman against A&M

-Love face mask and horse collar on the same tackle. Neither were called.

You all get the point. It’s terrible, but it’s not just against our Irish. Here are some other comical missed calls from today:

I fully support both roughing calls against BC. Both times involved a player deliberately getting into CJ when they had every opportunity to stop. If they want to call that unsportsmanlike conduct instead of roughing, fine by me.

The other calls were obvious horseshit.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

SEC & B1G pay their officiating teams the best. ACC & B12 pay substantially less per game. All 4 conferences have their issues. Get rid of conference affiliated refs. Pay them more and make it merit based.

 

[Rizzophil]

It's the worst that it has ever been and it begs the question whether the refs are involved in betting shenanigans. Some of the stuff is easily explained by incompetence but others ... specifically things like the NC State incompletion ... defy all reason.

I think it’s connecting to betting

 

[Jeffwantpoppers]

SEC & B1G pay their officiating teams the best. ACC & B12 pay substantially less per game. All 4 conferences have their issues. Get rid of conference affiliated refs. Pay them more and make it merit based.

This isn’t their full time job, right? Or has that changed?

 

[Bane]

It's the worst that it has ever been and it begs the question whether the refs are involved in betting shenanigans. Some of the stuff is easily explained by incompetence but others ... specifically things like the NC State incompletion ... defy all reason.

In a ridiculous system like modern CFB where we have conference affiliated refs in a sport where there is millions and millions on the line for playoff payouts, it's extremely hard to not be very suspicious that a shitty league like the ACC is reffing our games a certain way. We're a direct competitor to the ACC for a playoff spot. There's too much money for these conferences to not have their fingers on the scale. They even do it to each other, for example look at UGA-Auburn and UGA-UF.

It's not always just blatant calling the wrong thing, it's any close play that could conceivably go either way often goes one way.

 

[SportsingHard]

This isn’t their full time job, right? Or has that changed?

If there's a full time job where you work roughly 36 hours a year, please send me a link where I can apply.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

This isn’t their full time job, right? Or has that changed?

Correct. They get paid a per game fee plus travel & per diem

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

He head butted him. If it was a little more forceful, you could argue targeting.

 

[stpeteirish]

Not sure why they haven’t gone to nationalization of the refs. The playoffs are generating millions, they could cover the costs with ease.
Only reason I can think of is the B10 and SEC know they are better than the others and nationalization would dilute the quality in their leagues.

 

[arrowryan]

 

[arrowryan]

The biggest issue I have with conference officials is that the team with the best chance to make the CFP is going to get every benefit of the doubt by the officials.

 

[NDdomer2]

Yeah and I'm not shocked that the ACC is being blatantly unfavorable against us when they know we could be taking a second team of theirs out of the playoff picture.

 

[ReesusCrist]

Yeah and I'm not shocked that the ACC is being blatantly unfavorable against us when they know we could be taking a second team of theirs out of the playoff picture.

The odds that there is actually bias tilted in favor of maximizing conference CFP bids is quite low, but the fact that there COULD be and that everyone talks about exactly this when there is a controversial call that goes in the bid-maximizing direction is itself a problem. The illusion of a conspiracy is nearly as bad as an actual conspiracy.

 

[jprue24]

Getting a little wild calling for fines. I think that's fucking nuts. Suspensions, eh, sure I get putting them in timeout.

What's the labor force look like for referees? Are there a bunch of better refs in FCS and/or DII?

 

[NotKoon]

With Georgia specifically I feel like every week there’s some new controversy surrounding some call that went their way

 

[Armyirish47]

Getting a little wild calling for fines. I think that's fucking nuts. Suspensions, eh, sure I get putting them in timeout.

What's the labor force look like for referees? Are there a bunch of better refs in FCS and/or DII?

No, it’s turtles all the way down.

 

[jprue24]

No, it’s turtles all the way down.

I know. A good buddy crew chiefs DII and whatever jr. college is called. He does his best to be his best. He would go leave for games, clinics, networking, etc.

 

[arrowryan]

So Notre Dame plays 5 ACC games a year, scheduled a 15 year deal with Clemson (doesn’t count towards their 5 ACC games), and gets fucked by their officials every Saturday.

Either cut ties with the ACC or just be a full member. This half in, half out thing is only screwing them over.

 

[MacIrish75]

So Notre Dame plays 5 ACC games a year, scheduled a 15 year deal with Clemson (doesn’t count towards their 5 ACC games), and gets fucked by their officials every Saturday.

Either cut ties with the ACC or just be a full member. This half in, half out thing is only screwing them over.

There’s no way that 15 year deal is going to happen lol.