Pac-12 refs could teach their counterparts in the SEC a few things about ineptitude… if that’s what this is.
I’m sure that Oregon fighting for a spot in the playoffs had nothing to do with the non-call there. Bet Mike Leach really wished for his officials’ post-game presser idea to have been a reality last night.
Get The Picture 
Uh, Son, you’re supposed to tackle him after he catches the pass.
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It wouldn’t surprise me at all that every conference isn’t giving their refs a nudge and a wink on exactly how they’d like these games to play out. These conferences and college presidents are a greedy bunch
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If that is going on then the entire system is corrupt. What you are describing is using officiating to fix games. That’s criminal misconduct and if people are really doing that there needs to be a federal investigation and those involved need to be sent to prison. Not probation–prison.
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Conspiracy folks would tell you the SEC did the very same a couple of years ago….Arkansas-Florida anyone? The phantom out of bounds non call in the LSU-Bama game. The A.J. Green call. Higher ranked teams seemed to all too frequently get the break.
And now, with the money in this playoff fiasco we are going to hear more about this. No conference wants to be the odd man out in the 4 team playoff.
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We’re fast approaching a time (if we’re not there already) in which you don’t have to be a “conspiracy folk” to believe this stuff. Personally, I’m already to the point where I think you’re delusional if you don’t believe it’s happening. Too much money on the line. And it’ll only get worse in the second half of the season, as each conference gets an even clearer idea of which teams are legit playoff contenders.
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Exactly. Beyond a doubt officials are not calling games straight
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I was watching that game when it happened and it was definitely a WTF moment. Wazzu was able to drive the ball consistently with the Air Raid attack and there was little doubt they were headed for the tie. My only question is: does the Pirate go for two and become legend or does he take them on in OT at home and hope the magic continues.? The announcers made very little of it but the replay clearly showed the DB pinning the receivers arms. This conference has a history of outrageous calls and this was clearly a “money play” by the officials. At least the SEC’s horrible calls seem to be just incompetence, with the exception of Penn of course.
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Is $20 million a lot of money? Yes. Is the credibility of your conference worth way more than $20 million? I think so. That’s why I have a hard time believing any conference is nudging officials to tilt the scales in any of these contests.
But I have watched a lot of officials in a lot of sports ranging from youth rec to travel leagues to scholastic to college and pros. It’s fairly obvious to me that officials, for whatever reasons, regularly fall into bias for or against teams or players in the heat of the moment.
And I think it is also fairly obvious that knowing they are going to have to explain a call in front of a camera later would help some of these guys call it straight when the temptation to go the other way arises.
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Exactly so. And most of the HCs and ADs and everyone else in a position to do anything about this wants to act as if the problem doesn’t exit. Our own HC’s reaction this week is Leach’s suggestion is a prime example. Of course, he could be thinking that if he said otherwise, Shaw would saddle us with PW &Co. for the rest of the season or at least for Tennessee, Florida and Auburn. Which is far from an imaginary scenario.
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Atrocious non-call. What was even more bizarre was the relative non-reaction from the receiver and Mike Leach. I found myself wishing the receiver would rip off his helmet and refuse to leave the spot of the foul and Mike Leach would enter and remain on the field of play for a ten minute profanity laced tirade creating a spectacle that would surely have to be covered by the evil empire and at very least a public shaming of the officials.
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That actually would have been cool because it was impossible for all officials to have missed that in a wide open field of play. And The Pirate is just off-the-wall enough to be the guy to jump in front of the bus to expose the issue. Giving the 5 conference champs a place in the playoff would help some, then if you get 2 teams in, just give the 2nd team expense money and use the excess money for some injury research fund, or to play something to seriously injured players. Take the financial incentive to cheat off the table would remove the suspicion. Like ASEF, I don’t think a conference’s credibility is worth $20MM but the conference offices, and bonuses, probably are impacted…which means the head of officials, their boss, gets rewarded for fudging a little. This call would indicate more than “a little”, someone will get their hand slapped as a token gesture to improving officiating.
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Yeah turrible call, to quote Barkley. Even Rod Gilmore called them out.
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It’s not tin foil hat stuff to think these PAC 12 refs are intentionally looking the other way just read the book by the NBA ref(Blowing the Whistle) to understand how conspiracies don’t have to be articulated, just understood . I personally get more pissed that the announcers don’t speak up but they are also part of the money maximizing machine soooooo.
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You mean like this?????
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11539513/was-georgia-south-carolina-controversy-sec-conspiracy
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