BleacherCoaches.com

Everyone likes to get on Paterno's case for grabbing officials and complaining, but at least he got the Big ten instant replay. Now, Oklahoma, like PSU a few years ago and also last year, has been cost a win because of terrible officiating. It is so clear that the onsides-kick on saturday did not go 10 yards, yet the Pac-10 officials couldnt see that, even on replay. The official who blew the call is from where??? Oregon. The official that screwed Penn State last year in the UM game was from where??? Michigan. This kind of stuff is unacceptable. You do not consult with head coaches as to when they called a time-out, and you cant tell me that even w/ replay those officials couldnt see that the onsides-kick didnt go 10 yards. Both instances, as well as 500 others, there is a case to be made for some cheating. Last season, OU was screwed out of a win on that Henderson TD run against Texas Tech, when he was clearly not in the endzone. Everyone except the refs saw the truth.

But how do you correct the game from Saturday? The Pac-10 issued a meaningless apology, and suspended the refs for 1 game. Wow!!! The OU president actually did not call for a change in who won or lost, he said to just scratch the game altogether. You cant really do that, because everyone plays 12 games this season. My own take is to give them both the win, or a tie. What I would love to see happen though is for them to reschedule that game in Boulder with "South-Side Rules", i.e. no fans allowed. Dont televise it, no radio, nothing. Just replay the game at the Colorado stadium, sometime in November. It'll never happen, but would be interesting.

We see bad calls all the time in games, and I know that there are instances where a guy plows into the line of scrimmage on the goal-line, and you cant know for sure if the ball crossed the plane, or if a guy made the catch inbounds. Why not put some kind of a sensor in the football that lights up when the ball crosses the goal line, or even the put of bounds line? It cant be that hard to run an invisible barrier across the length of the endzone, and have the football activate a sensor when the ball crosses the barrier. Think of how many mistakes by refs could be avoided if that happened. Just an idea.

I say just let the old gnome continue to make even more of a fool out of himself than he already is and let him chase down those fat out of shape officials, grab them, then turn them around!

Yeah, he got instant replay...and NOT A SINGLE SANCTION from the Big 10 for putting his hands on the official in anger...not once but TWICE. What a joke.

WT

This time is the charm Titan

Blown Calls?????????

JOKEPa's a crybaby...Read on!!!



Paterno's Had His Share of Calls Over the Years
By JOE DRAPE
NY Times, 2002

Anyone who saw an agitated Joe Paterno run down Referee Dick Honig after an overtime loss to Iowa earlier this season can attest to the excellent fitness of the Penn State coach at age 75. Anyone who has watched the Nittany Lions' souped-up offense this season knows the coach's mind for football is as sharp and modern as ever.

But after this week's skirmish with the Big Ten Conference over officiating — specifically, how Paterno suspects Penn State is being persecuted by inept or, worse, by biased referees — it is clear that he is afflicted with a malady common to his profession: selective memory.

Younger and far less accomplished coaches have exhibited this trait. Still, it is surprising that on his way to winning a Division I-A record 331 games, Paterno has forgotten that old saw about how calls have a way of evening out over the course of a game, a season and a career.

All he needs to do is flip through his scrapbook to be reminded of how a questionable judgment by an official here and a fluttering yellow flag there have returned him and his team to the locker room for a postgame celebration instead of on a mad dash to corral and complain to an official.
There are even familiar elements in Paterno's recent semi-rants.

The coach was so unhappy with the officiating last week at Michigan, where Penn State incurred its second overtime loss of the season, that he suggested that three of the officials were homers because they lived in the Wolverines' home state. This echoes back to 1969, when Penn State, amid a 23-game unbeaten streak, was down, 14-0, at Syracuse in the fourth quarter. A pass interference call against the Orangemen set up a Nittany Lion touchdown, but Paterno's team then appeared to fail in an attempt for a 2-point conversion. But it got a second chance after Syracuse was called for holding. Penn State made the conversion and went on to win, 15-14.

The week after, Ben Schwartzwalder, then the Syracuse coach, told reporters that officiating had cost his team the game and pointed out that three of the officials lived in Pennsylvania.

Then there are the Guman affairs — as in Referee Don Guman.
He is the father of the former Nittany Lion Mike Guman and the grandfather of the current Penn State defensive back Andrew Guman, and he twice came under fire for officiating Penn State games in which the calls, well, went Paterno's way.
The first incident occurred in 1982, when the Nittany Lions defeated Maryland, 39-31, in a game that incensed Terrapins Coach Bobby Ross. Late in the game, Ross ran onto the field screaming that Penn State had 12 men on the field when Maryland punted.

Guman penalized Ross 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. At the conclusion of Penn State's ensuing 60-yard scoring drive, Guman made another pivotal decision. He ruled Penn State's Kenny Jackson had, indeed, held on to a touchdown pass, which Ross and the Maryland faithful believed had been jarred loose by a hard hit before Jackson had possession.

More memorable perhaps was the presence of Guman the next season on the crew that officiated Penn State's 34-28 defeat of Alabama at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. On the next-to-last play of the game, Crimson Tide tight end Preston Gothard appeared to catch a touchdown pass, potentially the game-winner, before falling out of the end zone.

But officials ruled that Gothard did not have possession. Guman did not make that call, but Alabama fans have forever felt robbed, especially because in the week before the game, Ray Perkins, then the coach of the Crimson Tide, had asked that Guman be replaced because his son played for the Nittany Lions.

The roll call of fortuitous calls in Penn State's favor goes on and on.

Pittsburgh fans believe Elliott Walker crossed a snowy goal line for what would have been the tying 2-point conversion in the final seconds of their 1977 game. Instead, the Nittany Lions held on, 15-13. The Nebraska faithful believe they were undone in a 27-24 loss in 1982 by a controversial catch by Penn State tight end Mike McCloskey. They swear he was out of bounds.

Here are a couple more recent nuggets to digest. The Nittany Lions are the least-penalized team in the Big Ten this season; they were the least-penalized team in the conference last season; and in 2000, they were whistled the second-fewest times.

It kind of makes you wonder why the venerable Paterno is getting all "X-Files" about his team's recent spate of questionable officiating calls. Earlier this week, he insisted that he was trying not to get "paranoid" about it, then offered up more half-baked theories about referees who happened to be Michiganders.

No doubt there may be some positives resulting from Paterno's outburst. Other coaches in the Big Ten have said officiating so far this season has been subpar, and the conference commissioner, Jim Delany, has said he will consider using instant replay to settle disputes, perhaps as early as next season.

There is also perhaps some old-fashioned working of the officials involved, with the crafty Paterno making the men in stripes think twice when the next close call comes.

But whether Paterno is an icon or not, Delany suggested that the old coach was close to crossing the line by "imputing bad intentions" of Big Ten officials.

Neither Paterno nor the Nittany Lions are the victims of a conspiracy — all they have to do is check their scrapbooks. The truth is in there.

It is a shame that Pitt fans are constantly flaming and nearly every post ends up like this...

BUT...

I agree TAE. I was thinking the same type of thing the other day with all the technology that we have. The biggest problem is the fact that an official from Oregon did the game this past weekend and that a Michigan official did the job in Mich last year. The NCAA needs to hire the officials, create teams, and make assignments. Officials could be tied to regions somewhat so guys from PA weren't in USC one week, Texas the next, etc... Grade the officials like the NFL and put the best teams on games between ranked opponents, etc.

Interesting idea, but I think it has its limitations for usefullness. For one reason, controversial calls at the goal line probably only encompass 5% of all blown calls during a entire season. Would it be worth it to install, what Im guessing is expensive technoloy, for that small a percentage. Most blown calls I think are judgement calls such as, whether there is possession of a catch or interception, pass interferances or holding calls, whether they caught a ball in bounds, roughing a QB, etc. That technology wouldn't help in most situations. Referees in most cases should be able to tell if it is a touchdown or not without that kind of technology.

In alot of professions, one can be either gain professional status or become certified in what they do. I realize referees have to have some kind of qualifications, but does the NCAA make those qualifications or does the conferences have their own gauge for refs? If you go to law school your considered a lawyer, but until you pass the bar examine your not considered an attorney and therefore can't practice law. At least thats what my sister told me. What you need are professionally certified NCAA refs who should pass some kind of test to practice and participate in games. And they should be official NCAA refs and not just some crew from the Pac-10 or Big East.

Make older officials that can no longer keep up with the on-field speed of the game replay officials. Add them to the crew and them as just another member of the crew.

I highly highly highly doubt this official made this call because of where he was from. I'm tired of hearing all about the referres costing a team a game. That's all I've heard about LSU all week is how the officals cost them the game, too. When you score 3 points in a game, you don't deserve to win. If you put yourslef in a situation for the refs to blow a call and you lose, then that's your problem. These games aren't fixed. It's human error and the replay rules are so stupid that it's hard to overturn it unless there's no question about it. Mostly every call you can raise a question about. So, OU needs to quit crying and so do LSU fans because that's life. You lost. Go on with your season.

Much like Penn State and Michigan, where PSU let UM march down the field, OU let Oregon do the same. They could have stopped them in their tracks, and didnt. The argument isnt so much that they cheat, its that human error allowed UM and Oregon the opportunity to win. I'll never agree, though, that a ref from oregon is not biased a little. I want to know why the refs are not allowed to use the TV broadcast sometimes as an additional camera angle. I think that's BS. But its like you said, though... score 3 pts, you dont deserve to win.