How bad was that call on Botticelli?

[Spoofin]

It was the wrong call and a bad one. Not really sure how the ref could have thought it was a good one. Not sure why he ignored the other ref who was disagreeing with him. HOWEVER, I think the likelihood it was a conspiracy against the Gophers is about 0 in 100.

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[Pompous Elitist]

I know for a fact that all officials are graded on every game and those grades determine who gets to ref in high profile or championship games. Also determines who is back the following year. They are held accountable by the league office for the calls they make and don't make and they are constantly being evaluated.

Most of us could only name maybe a couple of head officials in the league and have no clue who all the other ones on the field are for any given game. Corrections and changes are ongoing it just isn't done in the public eye.

I'm aware of this, but it's not enough. If there were say, a weekly grand rounds where the BIG TEN publically acknowledged the failures and chastised the responsible person(s) that would satisfy many of us.

I also see no reason why a head official can't be up in the replay booth watching the network TV angles and having "God" power over the calls or make his own, similar to the referee right now. This is the 21st century, we have the technology, lets use it to even up the fairness of the game because sometimes the view down on the field is blocked or the umpire gets run over, etc.

 

[oak_street1981]

That was an awful call and someone needs to be held accountable. It happened in front of a number of officials at a very slow pace and it was clear the OL player illegally blocked or tackled CB from behind causing him to fall forward and barely touch the QB, who fell down trying to avoid stepping on # 46.

Even the clueless Griese noted the horribleness of the call. I cannot imaging what Speilman would have said if he had been calling this game.

There was a call in the end zone at Iowa yesterday where the WR for Iowa grabbed the jersey of the airborne UW defender, pulling him into the WR, resulting in a PI call against Wisconsin. That was an equally bad call, but more defensible due to the speed of the play and location.


I cannot recall a worse recent call than this call, other than the targeting call against Cedric Thompson in the Illinois game, when he tackled the QB as he was running down the field.. That call was overturned.

 

[MaxyJR1]

No one has brought up that they picked up a flag earlier in the game when Myrick dropped the kickoff. The other Gopher (BBC?) got it and then got thumped on the ground late by a Nebraska player. The refs discussed and then pulled the flag and said the player "was in the air" prior to the recovery.

If that one got picked up, and I think it was ok to pick it up, Botticelli's flag should have been picked up as well.

I thought they were going to pick it up. I actually thought the BBC call was more of a foul. Refs do the best they can at full speed. The miss calls at all levels. I think the Center called it and the Ref had a better look.

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

I know for a fact that all officials are graded on every game and those grades determine who gets to ref in high profile or championship games. Also determines who is back the following year. They are held accountable by the league office for the calls they make and don't make and they are constantly being evaluated.

Most of us could only name maybe a couple of head officials in the league and have no clue who all the other ones on the field are for any given game. Corrections and changes are ongoing it just isn't done in the public eye.

I hate to be a tin foil hat guy but this system could create corruption. Make sure calls go the way of the helmet schools, give the right schools the Ohio State Treatment and it could be understood that the league office will take care of you. Go against them and you'll get buried. College football has become such a big business that its possible such things could take place.

Not saying it for sure happens but it could. Probably some sort of bias on my part but it seems that the helmet schools always get more calls.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I hate to be a tin foil hat guy but this system could create corruption. Make sure calls go the way of the helmet schools, give the right schools the Ohio State Treatment and it could be understood that the league office will take care of you. Go against them and you'll get buried. College football has become such a big business that its possible such things could take place.

Not saying it for sure happens but it could. Probably some sort of bias on my part but it seems that the helmet schools always get more calls.

Every big ten state is represented in the officiating crews and many attended big ten schools. Zero chance of a conspiracy. A big ten crew did the TCU game. The helmet schools probably say everyone including the refs want them to lose. You're picking 2-3 plays out of 140 in a game.

 

[HavaGo4]

The real question that needs to be addressed is whether or not the officials that covered Saturday's game or other Big Ten games are the best officials out there. Are the guys that that wear the white hat on Saturdays the best the Big Ten can find? These guys are supposed to be chosen for their judgment. They are supposed to be able to make the right call in close situations. They should be better than the casual fan. The officials on Saturday blew it with Bottecelli's roughing the passer call. Not only did they blow the call but they screwed up the discussion afterwards. As others on here have said if they picked up the late hit on the kick off than they should have picked up the Bottecelli penalty. It was a huge mistake at a critical point in the game.

I think as whole the NCAA needs to look at how they evaluate officials in general. When it comes to officiating and getting big games it often comes down to who you know and not how well you do your job. The NCAA needs to remove coaches evaluations and conferences from evaluation process for officials.

 

[DoubleAlum]

Society isn't any more corrupt than it has ever been. If you think it is, you really need to take a closer look at history. It is harder to get away with corruption than it used to be. It's not impossible for refs to be bought off, but without evidence, but you still need evidence, you can't simply assume that corruption is involved.

you're right in every respect. and i know it's not a high probability. but i'd like an investigation. people were saying the same things you're saying before they uncovered the Penn St. cover up, North Carolina cover up, and on and on.

 

[DoubleAlum]

Seriously, thank you for this. I am so sick of the "the world is going to hell, I miss the good old days" trope.

okay, i agree with you. what i should've said is that i've finally come to the realization that there's a hell of a lot more corruption in this country than i ever would've imagined when i was 20 years old.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Some of you have got to let go of this idea that the refs are out to get us. Bad calls happen in every game, the game is moving at 100 miles an hour and the refs are doing the best they can but they are going to miss things and they are going to make mistakes. We are trying to crucify them for one or two bad calls in a game that has 140 or so plays in it.

For those of you that think it is so easy go volunteer to ref a youth level or high school game. It is very easy to be a ref when you are sitting in your living room looking at an HD display with the benefit of different angles and slow motion. On the field you have 22 elite athletes running around at top speed and you have to try and see everything that is going on in real time.

The call against CB was a bad call and I would be willing to be that in hindsight the official would agree that he messed up and I would also be willing to bet he probably feels terrible about it. But for those that are looking for a public apology I would hate to see that become the way of things. They shouldn't be subjected to any additional public ridicule then they already are everytime they make a bad call. It is and should be handled behind closed doors.

I am not trying to imply the officiating is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are way too many people trying to make it seem like being a football official is an easy job when it is extremely difficult.

 

[station19]

Some of you have got to let go of this idea that the refs are out to get us. Bad calls happen in every game, the game is moving at 100 miles an hour and the refs are doing the best they can but they are going to miss things and they are going to make mistakes. We are trying to crucify them for one or two bad calls in a game that has 140 or so plays in it.

For those of you that think it is so easy go volunteer to ref a youth level or high school game. It is very easy to be a ref when you are sitting in your living room looking at an HD display with the benefit of different angles and slow motion. On the field you have 22 elite athletes running around at top speed and you have to try and see everything that is going on in real time.

The call against CB was a bad call and I would be willing to be that in hindsight the official would agree that he messed up and I would also be willing to bet he probably feels terrible about it. But for those that are looking for a public apology I would hate to see that become the way of things. They shouldn't be subjected to any additional public ridicule then they already are everytime they make a bad call. It is and should be handled behind closed doors.

I am not trying to imply the officiating is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are way too many people trying to make it seem like being a football official is an easy job when it is extremely difficult.

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300602106

"Umpire: 'I just cost that kid a perfect game'"

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Some of you have got to let go of this idea that the refs are out to get us. Bad calls happen in every game, the game is moving at 100 miles an hour and the refs are doing the best they can but they are going to miss things and they are going to make mistakes. We are trying to crucify them for one or two bad calls in a game that has 140 or so plays in it.

For those of you that think it is so easy go volunteer to ref a youth level or high school game. It is very easy to be a ref when you are sitting in your living room looking at an HD display with the benefit of different angles and slow motion. On the field you have 22 elite athletes running around at top speed and you have to try and see everything that is going on in real time.

The call against CB was a bad call and I would be willing to be that in hindsight the official would agree that he messed up and I would also be willing to bet he probably feels terrible about it. But for those that are looking for a public apology I would hate to see that become the way of things. They shouldn't be subjected to any additional public ridicule then they already are everytime they make a bad call. It is and should be handled behind closed doors.

I am not trying to imply the officiating is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are way too many people trying to make it seem like being a football official is an easy job when it is extremely difficult.

Each official has their assigned players which can vary. They don't have to watch 22 players.

By and large these guys do an incredible job. I am continually amazed at the accurate spotting of the ball even with the parallax issues.

Sometimes there is an official that just isn't very good. The same referee that overruled the line judge and picked up the flag on the late hit on the 2nd quarter kick called a phantom holding penalty on David Cobb down in the red zone, on the same drive. I rewatched that play multiple times and there wasn't anything close to a hold by anyone near the LOS. I suspect he's also the one that called the Botticelli penalty but someone else will have to confirm it.

I question why they can't be subjected to intense scrutiny like everyone else in the game. Pay them like professionals and grade them. The integrity of the game is more important than some hurt feelings.

 

[EG#9]

If anything, shouldn't that have been a hold (or trip) on the Nebraska guard? Pretty clear he grabs Cameron by the ankle which causes him to come in low and "hit" the QB late. Glad it didn't decide the game, but that's like 25 yards of field position. I can see how they made (and missed) the call though, you just hope something like that doesn't decide the game.

 

[bottlebass]

The refs make mistakes every game. They have a tough job and the best they can do is try to minimize their mistakes and not let their mistakes decide the game. I think for the most part they do about the best they can.

Two things made me mad about this call though: 1. Earlier in the game they picked up a flag against NE for a late hit because the player "had been blocked into" our player and it was obviously clear that CB was blocked into the QB and tried his best to let up 2. the other official completely disagreed with the call but the other official didn't listen, they are suppose to work as a team to make the correct call.

With this said I thought the refs made some bad calls that helped both teams. Just glad the refs weren't the decider and the Gophers overcame that penalty to win a tough game on the road. We will no doubt have some bad calls go against us at Wisconsin this week so the team better be ready for it.

 

[XMan]

MNVCGUY, I can't believe that I've gotten to this point in life, but at age 53, in the year 2014, I think I've noticed that truth, honesty, integrity, etc. is no longer a valued virtue in our society. People are crooked at every level of society. From rummaging through our mailboxes, to ripping Visa charge machines off the counter, to rampant fraud on Wall Street, to internet fraud, to identity theft, to politicians falling like flies amid scandals, to Roger Goodell, to USOC Swimming Rape, to Bill Cosby, to the priests cover ups, to cover ups at the Vatican, to WMD, to SEC/ESPN, to Bernie Maddoff, to whistleblowers getting railroaded all over our country, to the malicious bullying in society where not even school principals will intervene and help. We could go on and on. I admire positive people in the world who can look beyond this and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But, I hope you'll agree that it takes doubters and suspicious people to uncover a lot of this stuff. If everyone were positive and optimistic about everything, lots of this stuff would still be going on.

I have no idea what could be going on inside the "boardrooms" of major collegiate sports. But, given everything you've witnessed in our society in your time on this earth, do you think it's still far-fetched to believe that something crooked may be happening?

Wow. That was something. A bit out there. It was a bad call. Nothing more

 

[GopherHomer]

If you can review a hit when "targeting" is called to rescind the ejection AND penalty, why can't you review a "roughing the passer" call? The exact same subjectivity of the official would be involved.

 

[bottlebass]

If you can review a hit when "targeting" is called to rescind the ejection AND penalty, why can't you review a "roughing the passer" call? The exact same subjectivity of the official would be involved.

Games are already long enough.

 

[MrC]

Some of you have got to let go of this idea that the refs are out to get us. Bad calls happen in every game, the game is moving at 100 miles an hour and the refs are doing the best they can but they are going to miss things and they are going to make mistakes. We are trying to crucify them for one or two bad calls in a game that has 140 or so plays in it.

For those of you that think it is so easy go volunteer to ref a youth level or high school game. It is very easy to be a ref when you are sitting in your living room looking at an HD display with the benefit of different angles and slow motion. On the field you have 22 elite athletes running around at top speed and you have to try and see everything that is going on in real time.

The call against CB was a bad call and I would be willing to be that in hindsight the official would agree that he messed up and I would also be willing to bet he probably feels terrible about it. But for those that are looking for a public apology I would hate to see that become the way of things. They shouldn't be subjected to any additional public ridicule then they already are everytime they make a bad call. It is and should be handled behind closed doors.

I am not trying to imply the officiating is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are way too many people trying to make it seem like being a football official is an easy job when it is extremely difficult.

And remember it is an extremely high paying job. Actually, not.

It is a job that carries tremendous social prestige. Actually, not.

THE ONLY POSSIBLE REMAINING REASON TO DO THAT JOB IS FOR THE VEGAS PAYOFFS. Therefore, they MUST be crooks on the take. I have proven it decisively. And I used all-caps dramatically, too. ?

 

[MaxyJR1]

I think the biggest problem with B1G officials is that there errors never seem to even out. Bad calls go against the underdog at a far higher rate than they should. It might be an unconscious bias but it's there.

Please share some stats. I'm pretty sure there is no direction for officials to even things out. They call what they see on each play and move on.

 

[MaxyJR1]

If you can review a hit when "targeting" is called to rescind the ejection AND penalty, why can't you review a "roughing the passer" call? The exact same subjectivity of the official would be involved.

Because targeting contains concrete evidence that a player was hit at or above the shoulders. Roughing is a judgment call of timing and determining if the player could have avoided the QB or if it was necessary.

 

[MaxyJR1]

On the play where the CB grabbed the jersey of Isaac Fruechte, Isaac runs a route right at a CB who is entitled to his position on the field. The ref sees this and sees Fruechte as a blocker, likely offensive pass interference. Then then the grab happens. This could have been offensive pass interference, a defensive hold, or defensive pass interference. None were called and the human factor snuck into a human game.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Because targeting contains concrete evidence that a player was hit at or above the shoulders. Roughing is a judgment call of timing and determining if the player could have avoided the QB or if it was necessary.

I've always thought the judgment calls should be reviewable when coaches have a finite number of challenges. Just apply the same "indisputable video evidence standard." They shouldn't overturn anything where it is simply a matter of the replay judge disagreeing with the call, but there are times where a call is flat out wrong. I'm remembering the Vikings pass interference call in the playoffs against New Orleans, where from the ref's angle, it looked like the Viking player pushed the New Orleans receiver and he fell, but the reverse angle showed that there was literally no contact and the New Orleans player just lost his footing coming back on a curl route. Pass interference is a judgment call, but that seems like the perfect time for a replay booth to be able to say "hey, this isn't just a matter of me thinking that was a soft call, that call was flat out wrong and the video indisputably proves it."

 

[MaxyJR1]

I've always thought the judgment calls should be reviewable when coaches have a finite number of challenges. Just apply the same "indisputable video evidence standard." They shouldn't overturn anything where it is simply a matter of the replay judge disagreeing with the call, but there are times where a call is flat out wrong. I'm remembering the Vikings pass interference call in the playoffs against New Orleans, where from the ref's angle, it looked like the Viking player pushed the New Orleans receiver and he fell, but the reverse angle showed that there was literally no contact and the New Orleans player just lost his footing coming back on a curl route. Pass interference is a judgment call, but that seems like the perfect time for a replay booth to be able to say "hey, this isn't just a matter of me thinking that was a soft call, that call was flat out wrong and the video indisputably proves it."

Just have a guy in the booth that replays every play and then lights a RED or Green light by the play clock to proceed of stop the game. Get rid of the 40 second play clock and teams will have 25 seconds from the time the Green light shines to run the next play.