Rough year for the college guys...
 

... at least in the media. Here's the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2670044

What surprises me is that this is a <b>holding</b> flag. I mean, it's a 100% judgement call. I don't recall any college conference or the NFL coming forward publicly to say "This was a poor judgement" before.

I really think it was not a good idea to come out and say we blew a hold. It was a hold, probably just not one that maybe should have been called at that time cuz it wasn't bad enough.
There were still probably 150 or so other plays in that game which could have decided the outcome. It wasn't the officials.

What worries me is that someone is going to get the boneheaded idea that foul calls need to start being subjected to video review DURING THE GAME!

I am really surprised that a holding call was commented on. Usually, it is a procedural error or rule administration error. Evaluators don't usually look at judgment calls, just mechanics/positions/prodedures, etc.

Also, the article failed to note that the replay official in Oregon did NOT have the same video to review that the TV network had. He had a lousy view in which to make a judgment and it was not clear enough evidence to overturn the field officials.

REPLY: Just to clarify...supervisors do indeed look at judgment calls and provide feedback to the official, but they ususally do not put these kind of discussions into the public domain.

And in this case it appears it was not the supervisor who put this in the public domain, it was the coach.

As luck would have it, this game was just on Fox College Sports Central.

This is the trouble with having NFL guys as NCAA Supervisors. The NFL stopped being sport a long time ago. Maybe this isn't a hold in the NFL but gosh darn it...it was a big time hold. If I were the flag thrower, I'd be pissed.

The only reason the QB gets in the EZ is because the OL puts his right arm around the defensive player's neck and his left arm around his waist and drags him, creating a hole. Classic advantage/disadvantage. And right at the POA.

That's exactly what I've heard about the play. If it wasn't for the hold, he wouldn't have scored. This was a difficult call no doubt, and it sucks that the R is being hung out to dry.

The message is that we should eat our flags at the end of games. It's a ****ty message.

Is there a clip of the play anywhere?

Standing up for mistakes
 

If there is a bad call, its a bad call. It happens, I think people have more respect for officials and conferences when they admit they made a mistake, rather than lieing or hiding from it. Sometimes being a man is harder than hiding from the truth. That doesn't meen you throw your officials under the bus, but admitting an error and learning from it, is ok.

I will be interested to see how the NFL handles the bad "judgement" call by the official in the Sea-Gb game. I sense they will hide from it, thus promoting the feeling of incompetence among the general public toward NFL officials. Which then reflects on how the general public feels about us as college and high school officials.

I know many on here don't think officials ever make a mistake, but we do. If I make a mistake, I will admit it.

What call was that?

roughing the passer.

I think he made an honest mistake. I think he thought the QB got hit in the head, but he was hit in the shoulder.


And as all bad calls, it wasn't the reason one team won or lost. But that call at that time, was a determing factor in the outcome of the game.

I didn't see the play so I won't comment on it. I am frustrated at times with the NFL's roughing calls. The calls are inconsistent from week to week and often times you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Witness the Kiwanuka play in the Giants/Titans game last weekend. Before anyone jumps on me as a homer let me state that I am not a Giants fan. Watching this play it's clear that Kiwanuka thought that Young had passed the ball and he didn't want to get hit with a roughing call. I heard that he was called for roughing on a similar play a few weeks ago.

The point is that the NFL often treats their QB's like they're dainty pieces of china. It's football. Let them play and penalize unnecessary roughness as required. I'm not advocating for an all out assault on QB's, but there are times when it appears that you could be called for roughing if you sneezed in the direction of a QB.

The NFL has determined that offensive play goes to hell when the starting QB goes down. When offensive play goes to hell, the fans get upset because they want to see scoring and big plays. Therefore, rules are made to do everything possible to protect QBs and the officials are expected to do everything they can to enforce it as such. You have to remember the NFL is a huge entertainment business first and foremost that is kinda football.

Yep. You see that type of "block" all the time on Sunday's. Especially on the pass rush as the defender starts to get by the blocker. I mean every single game you see an arm wrapped around the defenders throat at least once and no flag as the pass just gets off. But like you said, that's the NFL and the officials are required to see things a little different than us lowly HS and NCAA officials see things.

PS--how's that scheduling software looking now?:D or :eek:

I disagree. On that same drive GB couldn't stop Alexander on a big 3rd down play and also on a big 4th down play. Both occasion Seattle got a first down and the drive continued. On that roughing play that was the proper call according to the rules. When in doubt it is roughing. The NFL wants that call to be made if there is any doubt at all in the Refs mind. It may turn out, as it did in this play that it wasn't a shot to the head, but the NFL will stand by you if you make this call due to having doubt. Consider what would happen if that player whacked him hard and the ref didn't flag it because he thought it was a miss. Now you can why these "misses" get flagged.

I don't start until 1/1/07.

I've got one more assignment on Monday night then I'm done.

The exact same thing happened the week on a critical 3rd & 20 play during Pittsburgh's comeback vs. Cleveland. Lineman hit Big Ben, thought the ball was released and let up, Ben scrambled and found a receiver for a 1st down.

Just remember to ignore the screw-ups by the guy on the home-side line, k?