OFFICIATING!!!!!!!

[cncmin]

Not one, not two, but THREE terrible calls/non-calls gave Kansas a free touchdown for their 21-14 lead. First, earlier in the drive an obvious hold was not called on a sweep play. Then, after a sack on 2nd down, they flag the sideline for 5 yards for apparently going into the field of play. It's still 3rd-and-11 when they call interference on Steve Davis on a snuffed-out short pass with Reese under pressure - no replay was shown but if there was interference it didn't look like it during the play...and even if the receiver had caught the ball he would have been about 10 yards short of the first down; but there goes a free undeserved first down on what would have been a drive-ending 4th and 11.

You can't beat bad officiating, and with a game hard enough to win with the matchup, that should about put a fork in the Gophers mentally. That's game over, on what was otherwise looking like it would have been a very good game. Thanks for ruining the game refs.

 

[tikited]

Not one, not two, but THREE terrible calls/non-calls gave Kansas a free touchdown for their 21-14 lead. First, earlier in the drive an obvious hold was not called on a sweep play. Then, after a sack on 2nd down, they flag the sideline for 5 yards for apparently going into the field of play. It's still 3rd-and-11 when they call interference on Steve Davis on a snuffed-out short pass with Reese under pressure - no replay was shown but if there was interference it didn't look like it during the play...and even if the receiver had caught the ball he would have been about 10 yards short of the first down; but there goes a free undeserved first down on what would have been a drive-ending 4th and 11.

You can't beat bad officiating, and with a game hard enough to win with the matchup, that should about put a fork in the Gophers mentally. That's game over, on what was otherwise looking like it would have been a very good game. Thanks for ruining the game refs.

The ref's have little to do with stupid players.

 

[thailleagle]

2 personal fouls were our fault in all fairness.......

 

[magpie]

The sideline call and the sideline PF were questionable.

 

[cncmin]

2 personal fouls were our fault in all fairness.......

Those were proper calls, and were not discussed above.

The fact remains, those two consecutive calls that gave Kansas a free first down when they didn't come close to deserving it ruins a defense's mentality. That mentality has been displayed in a lackluster ("defeated") effort since those calls. Brewster is going to have to rally the troops, because those horrible calls completely changed the game, took the spirit away from the team.

A great team would overcome shitty calls. The Gophers are not a great team, and likely cannot overcome these huge game-turners.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Uncatchable ball

On that interference call. Refs seem especially hard on the Gophers today - wish a challenge might have forced a review of the interference call, but that's not in the rules, I guess.

 

[MinneNoVA]

No discussion from our NFL Network Kansas-loving color commentator about the sideline penalty against the Gophers. What was that call for? As for the PI call, a bullcrap call. It was NOT PI.

 

[cncmin]

On that interference call. Refs seem especially hard on the Gophers today - wish a challenge might have forced a review of the interference call, but that's not in the rules, I guess.

Not only uncatchable, but also arguably within 5 yards of the LOS, which I thought played under a different set of rules.

 

[Zales04]

I'd swear that I have seen Van De Steeg held a few times too.

 

[cncmin]

I'd swear that I have seen Van De Steeg held a few times too.

Sure seems like it. Zero penalties in the first half against Kansas. I knew their basketball program was held in high regard but since when did their football program assume favors?

 

[Carlson 79]

Knew It was Pivotal at the Time....

The refs just stole any chance we had of upending a very good Kansas team.

There were several holds missed in the first half, KS tackles were getting whipped and then grabbed as we attempted to blow by them. Brutal. We were hitting them in the mouth with the running game and had them off balance. The coaches had a nice gameplan in place and then...

The sequence mentioned by CNCMIN just killed the Gophers' momentum, properly earned I might add.
And I certainly do agree on the TV guys. They were in no mood for questions at this point in the festivities, no replays offered up, no questioning the calls, just jumping on the Gophers for "mistakes".

We had no shot once they got untracked. It reminded me of a few of the Vikes' playoff games vs. SF out west when Montana or Young would get a key break and they'd just roll afterward. This was a game we could have won, given even-handed officiating at that crucial time. It was not to be.

 

[grunkiejr]

Pass Interference

I watched it numerous times on DVR and it was a horrible call.

1. Very iffy on the amount of contact
2. Uncatchable
3. The refs have to realize the situation (3rd and 11) and determine whether or not a call is warranted given that even if the ball was caught (see 2. Uncatchable) that the Kansas player would have gained 1 yard at the most.

However, Kansas was a better team than Minnesota and this game shouldn't be blamed on the refs.

 

[ButchNashGuy]

The PI on Davis was ridiculous. Sideline interference??? Also, was Briscoe out of bounds on that first TD? I looked quickly in a rewind and thought before he caught the ball he stopped out. The announcers were awful, few replays... blah blah blah.... BTW, we did not play well for most of the game. That is not the fault of NFL Network and the officials. It's just that they sucked as well.

 

[McGopherFan]

I Can Watch my team lose

But I cannot watch my team take getting screwed in a Biblical sense. Smalls 15 yarder- deserved and dumb.

The sideline play personal foul given the dance on the edge and even the commentators statements that it was a baited play, and having been burned by a player (Purdue me thinks) faning an out of bounds play. All equal a very questionable call. The lack of emphasis that a PERSONAL FOUL - LATE HIT OUT OF BOUNDS - usually gets an absolutely launched flag. The Field judge begrugdedly dropped the flag. It was questionable at best and most likely poor.

The delay sideline interferance used to be a warning, and the U got a lot of warnings last year. NOT ONCE did the 5-yard penalty get called against the Gophers this year. Does anyone have a stat for if the BT saw any such penalties called this year? This is a stupid rule. Should be a dead ball not during the play. Which means the down is not replayed. But the Studity of the rule gives the play back. If it is not unsportsmanlike or illegal subs etc. It should be like a delay on the offense, which can only occur before a play occurs not during the play.

The PI call was horrible. My intitial question was whether the Offensive player had cleared the Neutral Zone.

Unfortunately, these and several other non-calls left me longing for the BT refs that irritated the hell out of me during the season.

 

[Brewscrew]

Forgot to mention the 4 or 5 non holding calls on their WR's. Everytime the ran a sweep, threw a bubble or midget man ran the WR on the edge were holding either Traye, Sherels or Brock. Twice Brock would have blown the guy up for a loss but was held big time.

The PI call and lack of holding calls were total BS, but Kansas was the better team and more prepared on offense (heard that a few times this year).

 

[cncmin]

Forgot to mention the 4 or 5 non holding calls on their WR's. Everytime the ran a sweep, threw a bubble or midget man ran the WR on the edge were holding either Traye, Sherels or Brock. Twice Brock would have blown the guy up for a loss but was held big time.

The PI call and lack of holding calls were total BS, but Kansas was the better team and more prepared on offense (heard that a few times this year).

Seems that all of the above posts corroborate the horrid feeling I had during that game watching us get screwed out of the game. After those calls the rest of the game was academic - underdogs rarely mentally recover from screwjobs like that.

That said, it wasn't Kansas's fault that the refs screwed us. They played a very good game, and Todd Reesing was very IMPRESSIVE! Reesing was >> than Weber, which overall, IMO, made the difference on the 31st. Also, we needed to do something to hit Briscoe and Meiers on the line to disrupt their routes. With the pressure we were getting on Reesing, we should have been able to stop most long passes...but it was those 10-yarders that were especially frustrating. We needed to try something to disrupt that 5-10 yard rhythm, but we never adjusted. Congrats to Reesing and Kansas on a well-played game.

One last thought - I thought that the color commentator on the NFL Network was very good - while he didn't do replays, he was very knowledgable about the game. In fact, I think four times in a row he was exactly right about who Kansas was throwing the ball to. Ironically, he failed three times in a row about who the Gophers would go to...I wonder if that meant that the Gophers weren't executing the plays while Kansas was (which would match my Reesing >> Weber comment above).