I watched the Oregon-Washington State game yesterday, but unfortunately did not see any other PAC 12 action. But as you know John, I have been to and watched a ton of PAC 12 games and have for years. I’ve also officiated football, but not at the collegiate level, as well as basketball and 37 years of professional baseball.
I watched the Oregon-Washington State game yesterday, but unfortunately did not see any other PAC 12 action. But as you know John, I have been to and watched a ton of PAC 12 games and have for years. I’ve also officiated football, but not at the collegiate level, as well as basketball and 37 years of professional baseball.
Losing track of the down is embarrassing and just shouldn’t happen. You have eight officials on the field, plus the replay official, who if sees a down being skipped or added, can alert the on field officials. 
And as a side note...I’m not sure if, by rule, the officials yesterday could go back to 2nd down. The rule may limit the “do over” to where they went, 3rd down. I’m not a college football rule expert and may be wrong.
The PAC 12 conference has taken its shots in recent years over officiating. Some is justified, some is piling on.
But I take extreme exception with any thoughts that officials cheat to make sure conference “big boys” win games, or that executives from the league office tell officials to “help out“ certain teams. 
You can call holding practically every play. To call a foul, you not only need an illegal action, but the judgment of the official concerning advantage/disadvantage. An infraction away from the ball, having nothing to do with the point of attack, will usually be ignored (unless a personal foul, unsportsmanlike conduct, or a safety issue).
The operative term above is “judgement of the official.” All of us have judgement, but not all of us have good officiating judgment. As we always said at umpire school, you can teach mechanics, rules, positioning, angles, but you can’t teach judgment. Either you have good judgment, or you don’t. 
In general, fans have questionable if not poor judgment, especially concerning their team. And that’s ok, fans should be a bit illogical and watch with rose colored glasses. I and my fellow officials wouldn’t want it any other way!
However, allegations that officials are cheating (and that’s what someone is accusing when they say calls are made or ignored to favor a team, or that the conference instructs officials to favor a school), not only crosses a line, but chips away the integrity of the entire sport.
You may think an official is incompetent or has poor judgement. You may feel your team never gets a break. But contrary to what seems to be in vogue these days, not everything is a conspiracy.
A few years ago, the Pac-12 experienced an unimaginable crisis when an administrator with no background in officiating interfered in the replay review process during the USC-Washington State game. Remember that? Just enough "stuff" like this happens to make people justifiably wonder.
Won't say it's a conspiracy but when the holding is so bad it changes the outcome of a game it's a problem. Beavers had lineman taken off their feet, no call, converted 4th down. pi in the end zone in front of ref, no call. Total loss of forward momentum by the runner, going backwards until someone pushes him back forward...well allow it, 1st and 10. Running out the play clock 3 times in a half to the point commentators say bringing it up about how the refs are giving them leeway.... Come on.
USC didn't win that game the beavers lost it, but this didn't help and arguably would have kept them out of some of the key situations that decided the game.
If it's holding, then call holding. If it's every play, then teams will adapt. Just as they try in regard to targeting.
My understanding the teams and officials go over rules every year. Go over the change in philosophy, which is all this is, and start calling violations regardless of where they happen.
It's ridiculous to allow officials to judge whether something will not affect the play while the play is still running.
I watched the Oregon-Washington State game yesterday, but unfortunately did not see any other PAC 12 action. But as you know John, I have been to and watched a ton of PAC 12 games and have for years. I’ve also officiated football, but not at the collegiate level, as well as basketball and 37 years of professional baseball.
Losing track of the down is embarrassing and just shouldn’t happen. You have eight officials on the field, plus the replay official, who if sees a down being skipped or added, can alert the on field officials. 
And as a side note...I’m not sure if, by rule, the officials yesterday could go back to 2nd down. The rule may limit the “do over” to where they went, 3rd down. I’m not a college football rule expert and may be wrong.
The PAC 12 conference has taken its shots in recent years over officiating. Some is justified, some is piling on.
But I take extreme exception with any thoughts that officials cheat to make sure conference “big boys” win games, or that executives from the league office tell officials to “help out“ certain teams. 
You can call holding practically every play. To call a foul, you not only need an illegal action, but the judgment of the official concerning advantage/disadvantage. An infraction away from the ball, having nothing to do with the point of attack, will usually be ignored (unless a personal foul, unsportsmanlike conduct, or a safety issue).
The operative term above is “judgement of the official.” All of us have judgement, but not all of us have good officiating judgment. As we always said at umpire school, you can teach mechanics, rules, positioning, angles, but you can’t teach judgment. Either you have good judgment, or you don’t. 
In general, fans have questionable if not poor judgment, especially concerning their team. And that’s ok, fans should be a bit illogical and watch with rose colored glasses. I and my fellow officials wouldn’t want it any other way!
However, allegations that officials are cheating (and that’s what someone is accusing when they say calls are made or ignored to favor a team, or that the conference instructs officials to favor a school), not only crosses a line, but chips away the integrity of the entire sport.
You may think an official is incompetent or has poor judgement. You may feel your team never gets a break. But contrary to what seems to be in vogue these days, not everything is a conspiracy.
A few years ago, the Pac-12 experienced an unimaginable crisis when an administrator with no background in officiating interfered in the replay review process during the USC-Washington State game. Remember that? Just enough "stuff" like this happens to make people justifiably wonder.
Won't say it's a conspiracy but when the holding is so bad it changes the outcome of a game it's a problem. Beavers had lineman taken off their feet, no call, converted 4th down. pi in the end zone in front of ref, no call. Total loss of forward momentum by the runner, going backwards until someone pushes him back forward...well allow it, 1st and 10. Running out the play clock 3 times in a half to the point commentators say bringing it up about how the refs are giving them leeway.... Come on.
USC didn't win that game the beavers lost it, but this didn't help and arguably would have kept them out of some of the key situations that decided the game.
If it's holding, then call holding. If it's every play, then teams will adapt. Just as they try in regard to targeting.
My understanding the teams and officials go over rules every year. Go over the change in philosophy, which is all this is, and start calling violations regardless of where they happen.
It's ridiculous to allow officials to judge whether something will not affect the play while the play is still running.