Josh Pate on College Football Officiating

Steve Spurrier knew this. Its why he tried to get as big a lead as possible. It lessens the power of incompetent and/or crooked refs and leagues.

 

No I will say it then, it was a nefarious call. This is the ref's version of faking an injury to manipulate the game. There is no way a competent ref would throw the flag unless he decided to do it. I wonder if that ref had money on the game, not just seeing Oklahoma win but by a certain amount of spread. If you watch the replay he doesn't throw the flag until Williams makes the catch. If he was really covered up, you throw the flag the second the play is run but he waits until the play finishes to throw the flag. That ref needs to be called out and investigated for illegal gambling because I have $1,000 I bet he had money on the game.

 

This is wrong. There has to be a forward pass beyond the LOS for there to be an ineligible receiver downfield, so no flag can/should come out for that until after the pass is thrown.

Refs have a hard job. They regularly gets things wrong. This was a bad one. But to accuse them of fixing games when you don't know the rules yourself is no better.

 

That's not what happened. My mom would have called that play better than this guy. Everyone but that ref called into question that call. He doesn't throw the flag until after the TD, not when the play is run or when the ball was in the air, only after he sees the outcome. Then all that time goes on and he chooses the one penalty that not only brings back the TD but is a loss of downs which it happens to be 4th down. It was a brilliant penalty to use. He could have said it was a pick play or offensive PI but the one penalty that can't be reviewed AND results in a loss of down.

 

To call illegal touching, you have to wait for the supposed illegal touching to take place which was at the very end of the play. I agree that was a bad call, but the timing of the flag for that call isn't necessarily wrong.

You suggested twice now he could/should have thrown the flag the second the play starts. That is objectively wrong. Ineligible receiver is not the same as illegal formation, it only applies when there's a pass beyond the LOS. It can't happen at the snap.

 

RE the Williams call:

They say it would be harder to maintain a conspiracy that we put a man on the moon than to actually put a man on the moon. I think there’s truth to that.

In the same way, I think it’s much harder to explain calls like this as some intricate cover up as opposed to a ref just making a dumb call.

 

In this case i agree and I agree with the Moon reference as well. There is a difference though between conspiracies and collusion for beneficial outcomes in my opinion though. There was a direct and very large sum at stake during the Swindle at the Swamp. The ACC stood to lose millions with an fsu loss that game and we saw what happened. Also, Miami this year had calls made by conference headquarters rather than on field refs that otherwise would have significantly damaged their college playoff chances. It doesn't have to be a "predetermined" outcome or grand plot to shade a call here and there when millions are at stake. I think the whole "scripted" conspiracy is silly but I also think it's silly to think money grabbing administrative powers wouldn't have some influence on outcomes when they hinge on a call or two either. Just my opinion.

 

Call may have varied place to place. What I recall is it being called any time defender came in head first and head down, regardless of place he was hitting.

In HS it was typically a shot to the back of receiver, but mostly because receivers were turning back to the ball and the defender was likewise coming back from further downfield.

 

Saw the Bama play live. Complete BS and that stuff has been happening for years. Sick of these guys having no accountability.

 

Perfect description of the issues surrounding that play and the bad call.

 

Bama has been getting these calls for over a decade. Georgia as well. No one should feel sorry for them

 

See this is where you are wrong. They flagged him for illegal touching because he was covered up. If you look at the play and the formation, there is no way in Hell that he was ever covered up.

"Illegal touching of a forward pass by an originally eligible receiver who has gone out of bounds or touching of a forward pass by an originally ineligible player (Rules 12-3-2-b and 12-3-3-h)."

He was never, ever ineligible or we should be flagged 20 times a game because we line up at least one receiver the same way on every passing down. You could go on to say every team in the FBS should be flagged for illegal touching multiple times per game. I'm sorry, I'm not stupid, I've looked at the formation about 100 times comparing to several other teams, including Oklahoma in the same game and that formation is no different. The ref for whatever reason decided to put a lid on any potential comeback.

This is where I absolutely agree with Josh Pate. College football is a multi-billion dollar enterprise with the the SEC cream of the crop, yet we have middle school officiating. If a coach and player can be grilled by the media, so should the refs. It's time to put them on the payroll, have a standard they they must adhere to, and be graded on their officiating. If you suck, like this ref, you are demoted and eventually let go. You give these ref incentives, like officiating big games and playoff games with bonuses to the quality of officiating. Right now, each conference has their own standard. Rules need to be tweaked to make it so every penalty can be reviewed and overturned. This penalty by the way was reviewable but it can't overturned, only enforced (meaning initial no calls can be overturned to a penalty).

 

I'm an official watcher- my dad reffed in his early years and growing up we constantly talked about the officiating/ rules etc.
So I feel like I'm smarter than the average fan on this.

That was one of the worst calls I've ever seen- the illegal touching or whatever call that was.
It's just mind-blowing/ inexplicable/ not even close type of call.

I mean most bad calls are somewhat defensible, and bad calls are going to happen.
This was none of that.
I'm still flabbergasted.

 

The crooked ACC refs would have explained away their "mistakes" after the Swindle in the Swamp. Until conferences fire refs for inept actions, nothing will happen.