PAC -10 Suspends Officials For Calls in Oklahoma Game
 

Easily the worst call I have ever seen in college football.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2593564

Agreed. that call was unbelievable.

I can think of some calls in the OU Texas game that were just as bad :)

Interceptions in the n-zone ruled incomplete when the guy caught the ball while sitting on a knee in the middle of the end-zone, balls which bounced off the turf being ruled interceptions, etc. :)

But yeah, in recent history, and with replay, I fail to see how this could be a 'mistake' as the Pac-10 wants us to believe. I can't see how they couldn't see what was going on here. I can't see how this could possibly be anything but an intentionally biased call by the replay officials. They ought to be banned from the sport.

In the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend . . . "

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...l=7&thispage=1

"Equipment malfunction"? We're not talking ESPN Ocho camera angles here, we're talking ABC Prime Time. If nothing else, this should be a lesson to replay officials to look at every angle before making the call.

-- if he's offering, I'll take it.

"This is probably a good time to remind ourselves that sports isn't war. It's not life or death. College football is supposed to be a pleasant, passionate weekend diversion, void of death threats for sure. There's just something that doesn't feel right about villifying Riese, especially after further review.

The above is right on.

For whatever reason, the replay official made a bad call, upholding a bad call.

He is agonizing about it. Let it rest.

Unfortunately, there are potential huge stakes -- mostly involving BCS appearances, big money and national recognition.

But, to coin a phrase, nobody's perfect.

If the article that KSigRC linked is true, the biggest fault may be with the Pac 10 replay process itself.

I was directing NFL football when replay was first used, and we basically played EVERY replay that was even close to showing the play. If this man really only got to see one replay -- or as the article says, one frame (that's a still frame of 1/30th of a second) -- there's a huge problem with the system.

Replays are always tense for everyone -- and they're made worse by the artificial time limit imposed because of the people waiting in the stands, the TV audience and other issues. The pressure is on everyone. However, if replay is going to be used -- it has to be done right.

In this case, it obviously wasn't. That doesn't make it the replay official's fault, though.

He doesn't get access to the ABC feed (which is GOOD), nor does he have (instant) access to or control over their camera angles.

This is the whole point - he was forced to make a decision based on the amount of time, by the other referees and the ABC production team, and he totally blew it. He admits this freely, and knew at the time that something was wrong, but didn't get the angles he needed (which requires him to say "can't overturn").

Why would he not get access to the ABC feed or control over camera angles. That is the most insanely idiotic thing I have ever heard. One look at atleast 3 of the ABC camera angles would have made the call more than easy.

Are you talking about last year? Who cares.....its not like that game was gong to be close anyways. The Oregon OU call was the worst I have ever seen. For you to compare them to an OU TX game is kind of dumb.

The season stakes were much higher for OU in this game aswell.....which makes it all the more sickening.

I also hate it for us....because it is going to make it awfully difficult to decide who goes to what bowl when there are a bunch of one loss teams stuck in the Top 10. (this is assuming that we don't lose again) The liklihood that we play another Top 10 team is pretty slim to none.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the controversial call in the LSU/Auburn game.

To clear one thing up. NOBODY gets "Control" over TV's camera angles except the producer and director of the telecast.

If the TV crew is doing its job, though, as I said above they're going to play every replay that have that has ANY view of the play. Remember that some of the cameras may be isolated on different players -- but there are always at least one or two cameras (replays) that "follow the ball."

For the replay official not to have access to ALL of those pertinent replays is ridiculous.

ETA that when NFL replay began, a separate feed from the TV truck directly to the TV booth was added and the booth official had two VCR's of his own, with slo motion capability (and a person to operate them for him), so that he could look at the "first" replay, while the second machine was still recording the rest of the replays so he could watch the rest when he was finished with the first and nothing would be missed.

Since this is a football thread and all...I'm going to ask a dumb female football question...

I was watching the ASU game last weekend and they QB made a pass from the 10 yard-line and the receiver missed and the ball hit the pylon. They ruled it a touchback instead of an incomplete pass. Why is it a touchback, since it never touched the other team?? (I understand about 75% of the rules in football, but this is one I just don't get).

The tipped ball was a pretty big call......but I think the call in the Oregon OU game was far worse.

Isn't this the first year the replay system has been in place in the NCAA? It seems like this can serve as a good "teaching moment" for preparing officials, TV crews, replay booth operators, etc., for subsequent seasons.

Sure, it's a shame for OU, but based on the links above, it sounds like the OU President is taking this a little too far. I understand that there's a lot at stake, I really do. But seriously, remove the game's outcome from teh record books? Come on. Suspend the officials for the remainder of the season? Now you're just going too far.

There has to be indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field. The booth operator didn't have indisputable evidence since he didn't have access to all the camera angles (again, based only on what I've read). If he had overturned the call with the evidence he was given, then Oregon would be griping and the OU people would probably just be saying, "Get over it."

But, since I didn't see the game, my opinion probably doesn't count for much here. (Although, even those who did see the game evidently got to see more than the booth operator saw. So, perhaps those of us who didn't get to enjoy this game are a little more objective.)

You know in Norman they have a saying for when an official blows a call that goes Oklahoma’s way. They like to call it “Sooner Magic.”