It makes me sick to see the steady degradation of college officiating. It gets worse every year, and the conferences do nothing to improve it. Instead, they prevent anyone involved from publicly criticizing it for fear of looking as ridiculous as they are. And the referees making these calls walk away largely unaccountable for changing outcomes. Unreal.
I agree Jeanty is looking like the best player this year, but I fear he will finish 2nd or 3rd to maintain the almighty P4 dominance.
No more negativity! It’s been a good season so far!
Teachers at lunch were talking about reffing for local events and how terrible it has become. It's not just parents, but now athletes that are rude to volunteers. Add at even lower levels, the fir-profit sports leagues make hurdles for parents to become refs, so they can charge every step of certification.
Less volunteers at the kids level, the less they move up through the system.
Quality of ref depends on the pool of people you can choose from.
Our society's focus on individuality happiness and trophies for everyone gets us these other rewards
We’ve noticed the same local issues here. The pandemic caused a number of experienced refs to quit, and athlete/spectator abuse toward refs hasn’t helped either, as you said. Really sad overall.
Ed, like most things in life, I’m beginning to feel just follow the $ money on these late inexplicable calls. The high ranked team gets the advantage. Is it the refs on location or conference officials at booths in NYC? In the same vein as Michigan saying ‘we don’t play on Fridays’ there is an entitlement and a protection of TV revenue at play
I wondered last week if that call at the end of the Miami-Virginia Tech game came from ESPN, rather than from the replay officials. ESPN desperately wants Miami to stay undefeated so that the ACC will be at least somewhat relevant.
My current thinking is perhaps the refs on site are following whatever the booth says, when it comes to targeting (or any controversial call that could decide a game). I could be wrong. But the non-call last night on what was clearly a targeting has me scratching g my head…
Look, we can all debate calls and rules that 99% of us don't know exactly how the rule is written nor what emphasis the NCAA asks their officials to focus on.
But to infer that the conference tells or implies to their officials, including replay, to "protect" the ranked team or any other nonsense (like they have money riding on the game), is going too far.
It fuels a dangerous narrative that then grows a life of its own. Soon EVERY close or controversial call, correct or not, is viewed as something sinister and purposely missed.
In effect, you're saying the officials are cheating.
Officials miss calls, sometimes calls that seem obvious...especially so when viewing them from your La-Z-Boy in super slo-mo from multiple angles with a bias for or against a certain team.
Trust me, I get it. I have cringed watching a pitch or play that I butchered. It's embarrassing and humbling.
Something it isn't? Intentional.
Why? Because a league or conference does not imply or flat out tell their officials to cheat.
It's been in vogue for almost a decade now that when something doesn't go your way it's fraud, cheating, or some kind of a conspiracy.
SPOILER ALERT: Not everything is a conspiracy. It can simply be a missed, or perceived missed, call. 🤷🏻♂️
Money is too much a part of college sports these days for there not to be suspicions about officials' calls -- especially when a team consistently gets the benefit of missed and/or questionable calls. Since college football has decided that it wants to play in that pool, it had better make sure it keeps its swimsuit on.
ESPN never having done College Game Day in Berkeley, until yesterday, and the PAC-12 still fighting for an acceptable media rights deal tell us what we’ve known for years, there is a media and east coast bias towards the west coast programs.
Who? Seems like the parent companies are all East Coast? Watch ABC, CBS, NBC evening news and it's like nothing exists west of Wash, D.C. If half of California fell into the Pacific it would be the third or fourth story in the news sequence. Flyover country starts in the western suburbs of D.C. It's generally the same with sports.
It’s been that way as long as I can remember. We can thank the east coast based media for the lack of east coast interest in the PAC-12. It’s ignorance and arrogance.
University of Miami Chiefs. You cant even really put this on the game officials. Miami has been bailed out the last 2 weeks by corruption in the replay booth that the conference can totally control.
The Cal QB's helmet flipped as he was hit. That didn't happen without helmet to helmet contact. The Miami player was thrusting forward and was on his toes "leaving his feet." Both that call, and the one the prior week, were "from the booth." So, we can't blame on-field officials entirely.
Many good comments. Here are two of mine. 1) Officiating - yes, getting worse. I think subjectivity is running amok, pass interference, holding, and roughing the passer changes with each game. 2) OSU vs CSU - Sorry, but someone has to say it. The Beavers are a good, solid Mountain West team!
Bill- You may be right for now...but just think about where they were when Smith left last November and where they are now. Let's give them a chance to grow and also do some recruiting.
Has Jonathan Smith’s decision to kick a field goal with 25 seconds remaining while trailing 31-7 come under any scrutiny? It certainly appeared as if he was well aware of the point spread and gave MSU bettors a back door cover.
I didn’t, but there was absolutely no valid game experience to be gained from attempting that kick. Really bad optics re playing purely to cover the spread. But, Smith must have been pleased with sticking it to big Ducks bettors and benefiting MSU boosters who took the points.
Obviously you have never coached. Every play is a teaching and learning opportunity. His FG unit had another chance to snap, place and kick at game speed. That can't be replicated in practice.
His kicker had another chance to succeed and build his confidence, which he did.
I'm sure the point spread was utmost in Smith's thought process.
Question for the Mailbag: why does College football continue on with the absurd rule of “down without contact?!” A player with the ball is running free, trips and falls and is ruled down. Adopt the NFL rule please.
There ought to be two levels of pass interference. One, for flagrant situations, where the defender is obviously just interested in impeding the receiver, should warrant placing the ball at the spot of the foul.
The other, where PI is less clear, and where the defender at least appears to be playing defense correctly and the infraction is more subtle (such as where the receiver stops abruptly and the defender can hardly help but make contact), warrants a 15-yard penalty.
Obviously football drives realignment but the addition of Gonzaga is really exciting. Did the P12 do this in part to get ESPN back to the negotiating table? I have to think ESPN doesn’t want to lose Gonzaga games to Fox or anyone else.
I think this is great! I am a basketball guy and love that the PAC12 is focusing on that. I just wish my alma mater, OSU, would field a competitive team. It has been a while (late 80s), putting aside that one great tournament year in 2021.
So, he said to himself, now that the dust is beginning to settle, at least we’re rid of the horrible officiating the PAC 12 had turned into…WRONG. B10, ACC, Big Sky, or whatever…going downhill fast
John - Glad you got on board with my comments about the cheerleader "hair raising" pictures. Agreed both of those guys did a great job on pictures.
- Your favorite sign HAS to be the LARRY SCOTT!
- Agree on Heisman pick - Jeanty is a beast....and doing it with his performances and not the hype.
- Cal got screwed. No doubt that vicious hit was targeting. It made me "sick" to see that hitter bounding around and everyone congratulating him.....with not an ounce of concern for the injured QB on the field. Glad he got up. Tough kid but I fear for his brain. The whole thing reinforced my no doubt prejudiced opinion that Miami is a bunch of "thugs".
I have never noticed this "phenomenon" before with cheerleaders' hair. Is this some new craze (to make hair fly)? Are those extensions the girls wear? One thing I know, that is a lot of hair on those cheerleaders and I have almost none. So maybe that is why I notice now! LOL!
Brian - being follickally (?Sp) challenged myself, maybe that's why I noticed it.....but really it was because of the outstanding "stop action" photography of Naji and Tim:)
Officiating was awful. Miami clearly being protected.
Big10 refs at Autzen were bad also. Egregious non PI call on Oregon first offensive play. Also a terrible no call when Gabriel got crushed late on a play. Then there were the make up calls. So bad…
I don’t see any semblance of revenge for Washington. The only thing the same between those two teams from last year’s national title game are the uniforms.
A fellow Duck fan once claimed revenge for our national title loss to Ohio State after we beat the buckeyes in Columbus. There is no solace in even that victory. Zero.
Anyone who claims that there is just doesn’t get what we are after.
Regarding the Big 18 and SEC running away with everything. No shit!! It's been happening for years, but no one has the guts to stand up to them. Conference commissioners and governing boards have provided just as poor leadership in this area as the Pac 12 did within its conference. They had the numbers to vote anything down, especially when the Pac 12, ACC and Big 12 were on basically equal footing. All they had to do was vote them down. If they wanted to leave and form their own 2 conference league, let them. Good riddance!! The Big 10 would NEVER have had the guts to do that. But nobody would stand up to them and still won't. It's the age old situation of how tyrants come to power. The other P5 conferences turned their heads because the SEC was only screwing the G5 schools. Now the other P4 conferences, ACC and Big 12 are turning their heads because the P2 are only screwing the G6 and keeping them somewhat in the cool kids club. BUT...the P2 are now already openly plotting to squeeze out the ACC and Big 12, only after all of college football allowed them to dominate and create a situation where they were able to pillage just about every top program from every other conference. They now control all the power, but only because of a lack of leadership from every other conference over the past 10 to 20 years. You stand up to bullies by punching them in the face, not by planting your lips on their ass cheeks!! In many ways, the rest of college football has no one else to blame for their utter lack of guts and leadership.
right there with you. I am a "fight before flight" kind of guy. As you might know, I am very defensive of the PAC12 and the crap it has taken from the media companies and the B1G. I would much rather fight than lay down and die. I am glad Scott Barnes and Jayatha Murthy feel the same. Nothing will please me more than when the PAC12 rises up and fields teams that kick butt (all sports) on the B1G and SEC
Yep, i know we're both fight before flight. It just frustrates the heck out of me when people fold up and cower to being bullied, just to avoid confrontation. Lucky for us it was not in our forefathers DNA or we'd all still be British today! I'm proud of Barnes and Murthy too. Best leadership OSU has had my lifetime outside of President Risser and Mitch Barnhardt, IMO.
If you are going to talk cheerleaders/dance team, I'm going to add my 2 cents worth. The CSU cheer squad looked like a bunch of sheltered girls compared to the skanky moves on the part of the OSU cheer squad. Why can't there be some sort of happy medium? Let's face it those OSU young women could drop two or three "Moves" out of the routine and still look graceful and supporting of the team. The granddaughters (almost 5 and 7) were using some orange and black pompoms to create their own routines a couple of days ago. They obviously had picked up some not quite suggestive moves from someplace. I have suggested several times that they should consider participating in a sport where they are cheered on NOT doing the sideline cheering. Unless Title 9 becomes a complete farce.
Similar issue, it works on youtube TV but is in old standard definition, or maybe even worse blurry picture quality. I've tried everything to fix, short of signing up with a cable provider, and have had no luck. My friend also has the same issue. Really hard to watch this way. Maybe it's just an issue with streaming services?
It makes me sick to see the steady degradation of college officiating. It gets worse every year, and the conferences do nothing to improve it. Instead, they prevent anyone involved from publicly criticizing it for fear of looking as ridiculous as they are. And the referees making these calls walk away largely unaccountable for changing outcomes. Unreal.
I agree Jeanty is looking like the best player this year, but I fear he will finish 2nd or 3rd to maintain the almighty P4 dominance.
No more negativity! It’s been a good season so far!
Teachers at lunch were talking about reffing for local events and how terrible it has become. It's not just parents, but now athletes that are rude to volunteers. Add at even lower levels, the fir-profit sports leagues make hurdles for parents to become refs, so they can charge every step of certification.
Less volunteers at the kids level, the less they move up through the system.
Quality of ref depends on the pool of people you can choose from.
Our society's focus on individuality happiness and trophies for everyone gets us these other rewards
We’ve noticed the same local issues here. The pandemic caused a number of experienced refs to quit, and athlete/spectator abuse toward refs hasn’t helped either, as you said. Really sad overall.
Ed, like most things in life, I’m beginning to feel just follow the $ money on these late inexplicable calls. The high ranked team gets the advantage. Is it the refs on location or conference officials at booths in NYC? In the same vein as Michigan saying ‘we don’t play on Fridays’ there is an entitlement and a protection of TV revenue at play
I wondered last week if that call at the end of the Miami-Virginia Tech game came from ESPN, rather than from the replay officials. ESPN desperately wants Miami to stay undefeated so that the ACC will be at least somewhat relevant.
I respect you thought on this but until I see solid evidence that refs are on the take I don’t put one cent on conspiracies.
My current thinking is perhaps the refs on site are following whatever the booth says, when it comes to targeting (or any controversial call that could decide a game). I could be wrong. But the non-call last night on what was clearly a targeting has me scratching g my head…
Great point, Matt. Money infiltrates everything and everywhere!
Agree, he will be cheated out of the award in favor of a player from a school that makes better economic sense.
Look, we can all debate calls and rules that 99% of us don't know exactly how the rule is written nor what emphasis the NCAA asks their officials to focus on.
But to infer that the conference tells or implies to their officials, including replay, to "protect" the ranked team or any other nonsense (like they have money riding on the game), is going too far.
It fuels a dangerous narrative that then grows a life of its own. Soon EVERY close or controversial call, correct or not, is viewed as something sinister and purposely missed.
In effect, you're saying the officials are cheating.
Officials miss calls, sometimes calls that seem obvious...especially so when viewing them from your La-Z-Boy in super slo-mo from multiple angles with a bias for or against a certain team.
Trust me, I get it. I have cringed watching a pitch or play that I butchered. It's embarrassing and humbling.
Something it isn't? Intentional.
Why? Because a league or conference does not imply or flat out tell their officials to cheat.
It's been in vogue for almost a decade now that when something doesn't go your way it's fraud, cheating, or some kind of a conspiracy.
SPOILER ALERT: Not everything is a conspiracy. It can simply be a missed, or perceived missed, call. 🤷🏻♂️
Money is too much a part of college sports these days for there not to be suspicions about officials' calls -- especially when a team consistently gets the benefit of missed and/or questionable calls. Since college football has decided that it wants to play in that pool, it had better make sure it keeps its swimsuit on.
OK. Now explain CB Bucknor and Angel Hernandez..
ESPN never having done College Game Day in Berkeley, until yesterday, and the PAC-12 still fighting for an acceptable media rights deal tell us what we’ve known for years, there is a media and east coast bias towards the west coast programs.
It's actually a silent war, goes way deeper than football. Operation Gladio.
I think you are right.
Uooooooo
Maybe we need to get a West Coast media outlet for the pac12 this next go round
Who? Seems like the parent companies are all East Coast? Watch ABC, CBS, NBC evening news and it's like nothing exists west of Wash, D.C. If half of California fell into the Pacific it would be the third or fourth story in the news sequence. Flyover country starts in the western suburbs of D.C. It's generally the same with sports.
LOL!!! I agree.😊👍
Well played Texas - always was always will be, Charlie
It’s been that way as long as I can remember. We can thank the east coast based media for the lack of east coast interest in the PAC-12. It’s ignorance and arrogance.
Apple? Netflix? Prime? Just to name a few
Just get rid of time zones. Problem solved. lol.
University of Miami Chiefs. You cant even really put this on the game officials. Miami has been bailed out the last 2 weeks by corruption in the replay booth that the conference can totally control.
The Cal QB's helmet flipped as he was hit. That didn't happen without helmet to helmet contact. The Miami player was thrusting forward and was on his toes "leaving his feet." Both that call, and the one the prior week, were "from the booth." So, we can't blame on-field officials entirely.
https://x.com/BryanDFischer/status/1842810092908859421
How could an on-field official (at least 3 of whom should have been watching the quarterback run) not throw a flag on that play?
Launching? Check.
Leading with the crown of the helmet? Check.
Helmet contact to the runner in the head or neck area? Check.
Textbook targeting.
They got bailed out too from major recruiting violations some years back.
Many good comments. Here are two of mine. 1) Officiating - yes, getting worse. I think subjectivity is running amok, pass interference, holding, and roughing the passer changes with each game. 2) OSU vs CSU - Sorry, but someone has to say it. The Beavers are a good, solid Mountain West team!
Bill- You may be right for now...but just think about where they were when Smith left last November and where they are now. Let's give them a chance to grow and also do some recruiting.
Has Jonathan Smith’s decision to kick a field goal with 25 seconds remaining while trailing 31-7 come under any scrutiny? It certainly appeared as if he was well aware of the point spread and gave MSU bettors a back door cover.
I can’t remember ever seeing a coach kick a FG in that situation before
Anybody ever think that maybe Smith simply decided 31-10 looks better than 31-7? He thought "take the points" instead of "go for it".
He also gave his FG kicker more game experience that could prove valuable later in the season.
Sounds like you took the Ducks and got burned.
I didn’t, but there was absolutely no valid game experience to be gained from attempting that kick. Really bad optics re playing purely to cover the spread. But, Smith must have been pleased with sticking it to big Ducks bettors and benefiting MSU boosters who took the points.
Obviously you have never coached. Every play is a teaching and learning opportunity. His FG unit had another chance to snap, place and kick at game speed. That can't be replicated in practice.
His kicker had another chance to succeed and build his confidence, which he did.
I'm sure the point spread was utmost in Smith's thought process.
I like the way you think!
Question for the Mailbag: why does College football continue on with the absurd rule of “down without contact?!” A player with the ball is running free, trips and falls and is ruled down. Adopt the NFL rule please.
Then they should adopt the nfl pass interference call and make the ball down where the infraction happened. Not.
There ought to be two levels of pass interference. One, for flagrant situations, where the defender is obviously just interested in impeding the receiver, should warrant placing the ball at the spot of the foul.
The other, where PI is less clear, and where the defender at least appears to be playing defense correctly and the infraction is more subtle (such as where the receiver stops abruptly and the defender can hardly help but make contact), warrants a 15-yard penalty.
Mailbag ?
Obviously football drives realignment but the addition of Gonzaga is really exciting. Did the P12 do this in part to get ESPN back to the negotiating table? I have to think ESPN doesn’t want to lose Gonzaga games to Fox or anyone else.
I think this is great! I am a basketball guy and love that the PAC12 is focusing on that. I just wish my alma mater, OSU, would field a competitive team. It has been a while (late 80s), putting aside that one great tournament year in 2021.
So, he said to himself, now that the dust is beginning to settle, at least we’re rid of the horrible officiating the PAC 12 had turned into…WRONG. B10, ACC, Big Sky, or whatever…going downhill fast
By the way, Jonah Coleman is for real 💪🏼
GO DAWGS
John - Glad you got on board with my comments about the cheerleader "hair raising" pictures. Agreed both of those guys did a great job on pictures.
- Your favorite sign HAS to be the LARRY SCOTT!
- Agree on Heisman pick - Jeanty is a beast....and doing it with his performances and not the hype.
- Cal got screwed. No doubt that vicious hit was targeting. It made me "sick" to see that hitter bounding around and everyone congratulating him.....with not an ounce of concern for the injured QB on the field. Glad he got up. Tough kid but I fear for his brain. The whole thing reinforced my no doubt prejudiced opinion that Miami is a bunch of "thugs".
Is it prejudice if it is backed up by unbiased observation? 🤔
I have never noticed this "phenomenon" before with cheerleaders' hair. Is this some new craze (to make hair fly)? Are those extensions the girls wear? One thing I know, that is a lot of hair on those cheerleaders and I have almost none. So maybe that is why I notice now! LOL!
Brian - being follickally (?Sp) challenged myself, maybe that's why I noticed it.....but really it was because of the outstanding "stop action" photography of Naji and Tim:)
Sorry for the PSU quarterback!
Love that hair shot, John!!!
Officiating was awful. Miami clearly being protected.
Big10 refs at Autzen were bad also. Egregious non PI call on Oregon first offensive play. Also a terrible no call when Gabriel got crushed late on a play. Then there were the make up calls. So bad…
I don’t see any semblance of revenge for Washington. The only thing the same between those two teams from last year’s national title game are the uniforms.
A fellow Duck fan once claimed revenge for our national title loss to Ohio State after we beat the buckeyes in Columbus. There is no solace in even that victory. Zero.
Anyone who claims that there is just doesn’t get what we are after.
Refs were also terrible in Seattle last night.
Regarding the Big 18 and SEC running away with everything. No shit!! It's been happening for years, but no one has the guts to stand up to them. Conference commissioners and governing boards have provided just as poor leadership in this area as the Pac 12 did within its conference. They had the numbers to vote anything down, especially when the Pac 12, ACC and Big 12 were on basically equal footing. All they had to do was vote them down. If they wanted to leave and form their own 2 conference league, let them. Good riddance!! The Big 10 would NEVER have had the guts to do that. But nobody would stand up to them and still won't. It's the age old situation of how tyrants come to power. The other P5 conferences turned their heads because the SEC was only screwing the G5 schools. Now the other P4 conferences, ACC and Big 12 are turning their heads because the P2 are only screwing the G6 and keeping them somewhat in the cool kids club. BUT...the P2 are now already openly plotting to squeeze out the ACC and Big 12, only after all of college football allowed them to dominate and create a situation where they were able to pillage just about every top program from every other conference. They now control all the power, but only because of a lack of leadership from every other conference over the past 10 to 20 years. You stand up to bullies by punching them in the face, not by planting your lips on their ass cheeks!! In many ways, the rest of college football has no one else to blame for their utter lack of guts and leadership.
right there with you. I am a "fight before flight" kind of guy. As you might know, I am very defensive of the PAC12 and the crap it has taken from the media companies and the B1G. I would much rather fight than lay down and die. I am glad Scott Barnes and Jayatha Murthy feel the same. Nothing will please me more than when the PAC12 rises up and fields teams that kick butt (all sports) on the B1G and SEC
Yep, i know we're both fight before flight. It just frustrates the heck out of me when people fold up and cower to being bullied, just to avoid confrontation. Lucky for us it was not in our forefathers DNA or we'd all still be British today! I'm proud of Barnes and Murthy too. Best leadership OSU has had my lifetime outside of President Risser and Mitch Barnhardt, IMO.
The British are actually the ones who control this country.
Maybe in basketball but the 2026 pac -12 in football won't be on anywhere near the level of the SEC or The Big.
If you are going to talk cheerleaders/dance team, I'm going to add my 2 cents worth. The CSU cheer squad looked like a bunch of sheltered girls compared to the skanky moves on the part of the OSU cheer squad. Why can't there be some sort of happy medium? Let's face it those OSU young women could drop two or three "Moves" out of the routine and still look graceful and supporting of the team. The granddaughters (almost 5 and 7) were using some orange and black pompoms to create their own routines a couple of days ago. They obviously had picked up some not quite suggestive moves from someplace. I have suggested several times that they should consider participating in a sport where they are cheered on NOT doing the sideline cheering. Unless Title 9 becomes a complete farce.
John. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED in the CW. My view of the Beaver game (on You Tube TV) was just nothing but static for like 1 hour straight.
Anyone else complaining about this? Was this on CW or YT TV?
Similar issue, it works on youtube TV but is in old standard definition, or maybe even worse blurry picture quality. I've tried everything to fix, short of signing up with a cable provider, and have had no luck. My friend also has the same issue. Really hard to watch this way. Maybe it's just an issue with streaming services?