I'm going to write a letter to BT Officiating Czar

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Go Gophers Rah

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It is hard enough to watch your team lose because of things that are under our team's control (playing, coaching, etc.), but it was very disheartening today to watch the (poor) officiating have such an adverse affect on today's game.

I Know it wont do any good, but I plan on writing an email to Jim Delaney and whoever is in charge of officiating in the Big Ten to complain about today's game.

Could anyone assist me in compiling (and providing more detail to) the list of grievances?

The big three that really affected the game in my mind were all in the 2nd quarter and included:

A PI call against us where our player had the inside edge and the PSU player was forced to make contact in coming back for the ball.

A PI call against us where our player essentially tackled the PSU guy at the ankles before what would have otherwise been an uncatchable pass out of bounds. I could understand illegal contact - but not PI.

A lack of a PI call against PSU inside our 10-yard line that resulted in an int returned for 40-60? yards.

I will start tracking down more details tomorrow from the drive-by-drive log, but any additional feedback would be welcomed.

Thank you.

GGR
 

all were close calls, not worth complaining over. How about the phantom personal foul call that we were awarded. It goes both ways.
 

The first PI call was a good call. The thing that would have made it a bad call is if the ball was uncatchable. I thought it was, but the ref who was closer to the play obviously thought it was catchable. It is a judgement call. We got the short end.

The play where Theret tackled the guy was one of the most bone-headed plays I have ever seen. The ball was catchable. Illegal contact is not a call in college football, only the NFL. It was clearly PI, there is no need to even talk about it.

The lack of PI on the INT was because no one ever intentionally made contact with the receiver. Their feet got tangled, our WR fell down. The worse no call was the one where the ball was thrown to Lair on a 4th down play and there was a no call.

The "phantom" personal foul call is something that was probably talked about during this week to the officiating crews. It is a rule that you can not lead with the crown of the helmet. It is called spearing. You can't do it. It is rarely, if ever, called. They called it (I am assuming they were talked to about it because of the NFL illegal hit issues this week).
 

Did not see a single play today, but by your discriptions, #2 was probably a good call. Read like the tackle of the player caused the ball to be uncatchable. Also complaining about judgement calls probably won't get you very fall.
 

Be sure to mention the blatant pushoff by McKnight on his last TD....
 



The one I have a beef with was the non call that resulted in the 50 yard int return. I watched the replay a few times and our receiver was pushed in the back well before the ball was there. The push caused him to lose his balance and fall a step later.
 

The bigger question regarding Weber's INT was not "should pass interference have been called?" but "why the heck was Weber throwing a 50 yard bomb into double-coverage when we're we were having success driving the ball down the field in increments?" Another terrible decision by a 5th year QB.
 

How about the punt fumble that they ruled dead because the player gave the 'get away' signal?
 




Complaining does nothing, we aren't a good team, and didn't help ourselves:

That said....

1) Interception w/ the long return: the pass interference actually occurred at about the one yard line - probably could have been at least illegal contact, if not a PI. Yes, their feet got tangled, which is not pass interference. However, the reason that the feet got tangled was because of a grab that occurred just prior to heading into the endzone which knocked McKnight off balance. Unfortunately, they didn't see it. The worse call was on the Lair lob at the 10 yard line, where the defender took out his arms.

2) The punt whistle. This is the play that I have the biggest problem with. Terrible call all around.

My biggest issue is that all three of the aforementioned plays involve the exact same official.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
The bigger question regarding Weber's INT was not "should pass interference have been called?" but "why the heck was Weber throwing a 50 yard bomb into double-coverage when we're we were having success driving the ball down the field in increments?" Another terrible decision by a 5th year QB.
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Exactly. Was there pass interference on that pass? Perhaps. However, when you throw the ball short into double coverage so the defenders are in better position to catch it, it's not surprising you don't get the call.

Two Points:

1) That ball should NOT have been thrown

2) If that ball had been thrown well (deeper), McKnight would have had a chance to catch it, and even if he didn't the interference almost certainly would have been called.
 

MJGopher said:
Complaining does nothing, we aren't a good team, and didn't help ourselves:

That said....

1) Interception w/ the long return: the pass interference actually occurred at about the one yard line - probably could have been at least illegal contact, if not a PI. Yes, their feet got tangled, which is not pass interference. However, the reason that the feet got tangled was because of a grab that occurred just prior to heading into the endzone which knocked McKnight off balance. Unfortunately, they didn't see it. The worse call was on the Lair lob at the 10 yard line, where the defender took out his arms.

2) The punt whistle. This is the play that I have the biggest problem with. Terrible call all around.

My biggest issue is that all three of the aforementioned plays involve the exact same official.
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I agree. The PI calls were poor, but bad calls are made by officials all the time. The punt, however, even though it was a non-issue in the outcome, is the call that defines the game as horrendously officiated (when stacked on all the other poor calls). The punt whistle didn't follow any rule in football that I'm aware of. The official just made something up on the fly. That's 100% inexcusable.

I've thought about it and the only explanation I can come up with is that maybe he thought he was actually correcting an 'unfair' situation for the Gophers? Basically, perhaps it appeared that a fair catch was signaled when in fact it was not, so he didn't think the receiver should get a chance to make a catch (or pick up the ball) and get a free few yards before the Gophers realized he wasn't down? Basically the point being you can't 'fool' the other team into thinking you called fair catch by making vague arm movements even if it's unintentional? Maybe? I'm reaching there because I honestly can't figure it out otherwise. You'd still have to CATCH THE BALL, though...

...I guess that explanation doesn't hold water either, though, because then you could do this anytime you were worried about the ball hitting a blocker or taking a bad bounce. I guess we gotta conclude the guy was high, senile, or a PSU alum.
 



ruralgopher said:
How about the punt fumble that they ruled dead because the player gave the 'get away' signal?
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There is no penalty for an invalid fair catch signal in college football, but if a player gives the 'get away' signal it will always be blown dead once a team secures the ball. Deception will not be allowed on a play like this.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
There is no penalty for an invalid fair catch signal in college football, but if a player gives the 'get away' signal it will always be blown dead once a team secures the ball. Deception will not be allowed on a play like this.
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It was blown dead before anyone touched the ball, that's the problem.
 

Maybe...just maybe....
I was sitting a few rows back of the Gopher bench yesterday. (lots of empty seats)
There was a Gopher assistant coach (don't know his name, he was wearing a white visor) who I think hurt our team with his bevavior.
On any borderline (and some that weren't) calls, he would sprint down the sideline toward the ofiicial who made the call, jumping up and down, waving his arms and screaming at the top of his lungs.
I liked his passion, but he was protesting calls that were obvious Gopher infractions.
He was embarrassing the officials, and it certainly didn't help our chances.
 

I can't believe how poor the Big Ten officiating has been the past few years, for ALL teams. The Big Ten conference is stepping things up with the addition of Nebraska, a new tv contract, etc. and I really feel they need to revisit their officials. This has nothing to do with bias against MN or any other team. I'm talking about Big Ten officiating as a whole, it's poor.

The worst call in my eyes yesterday was when the official whistled one of Penn State's punt returns dead BEFORE HE HAD POSSESSION!! It didn't end up having any effect on the game because he caught it after the bobble but what if he had muffed the punt?? This blown call could have been catastrophic.

Bottom line, the officiating needs to improve as a whole. The current level is unacceptable.
 

CP Gopher said:
Maybe...just maybe....
I was sitting a few rows back of the Gopher bench yesterday. (lots of empty seats)
There was a Gopher assistant coach (don't know his name, he was wearing a white visor) who I think hurt our team with his bevavior.
On any borderline (and some that weren't) calls, he would sprint down the sideline toward the ofiicial who made the call, jumping up and down, waving his arms and screaming at the top of his lungs.
I liked his passion, but he was protesting calls that were obvious Gopher infractions.
He was embarrassing the officials, and it certainly didn't help our chances.
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Jeff Horton addressed this in a post game interview. He basically said that he should be the only one talking to the officials. At first I thought he was indicating that some players were jawing to the refs, but it seems he could have been referring to the coaching staff as well. I agree that it could hurt the team when anyone but the head coach is talking to the refs.
 

Go Gophers Rah... Save your breath and don't waste good air doing that. It is like a car-trunk warm in mid-July Blatz Light.
 

WAGopher said:
Jeff Horton addressed this in a post game interview. He basically said that he should be the only one talking to the officials. At first I thought he was indicating that some players were jawing to the refs, but it seems he could have been referring to the coaching staff as well. I agree that it could hurt the team when anyone but the head coach is talking to the refs.
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John Butler's sideline demeanor is embarrassing. If he can't control himself, how does he expect his own players to be disciplined? I believe he is also in charge of tackling drills in practice and that doesn't seem to be translating so well, either. We are one of the worst tackling teams I've ever seen.
 

tjgopher said:
John Butler's sideline demeanor is embarrassing. If he can't control himself, how does he expect his own players to be disciplined? I believe he is also in charge of tackling drills in practice and that doesn't seem to be translating so well, either. We are one of the worst tackling teams I've ever seen.
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The entire coaching staff is a joke when it comes to their sideline demeanor. They celebrate a 4 yard gain like they won the damn Super Bowl jumping up and down and chest bumping like they're in a mosh pit. The only thing missing is the former assistant (I forget his name) that would turn his hat/visor backwards and look like an absolute clown....
 

Other than the fair catch that wasn't caught I didn't have a problem with the officiating...I was busy getting a brat for the interception that was mentioned though so not sure about that one!
 

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