PSU/Purdue Big Ten Officials may be Fired
 

What calls were involved are not specified but :http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/.../949483-p.html

I did not see the game, anyone remember any calls that stood out?

Tiller puzzled by several calls in loss to Penn State

Associated Press - November 7, 2007

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Several calls in last week's loss to Penn State left Purdue coach Joe Tiller scratching his head.

Receiver Selwyn Lymon appeared to catch a touchdown pass from Curtis Painter, but it was ruled incomplete. Purdue ended up settling for a field goal.

Lymon also caught a pass and ran out of bounds, but the official kept the clock running. The Boilermakers were forced to call a timeout with 2:10 to play, one they could have used later while trying to drive for a tie.

Tiller says he's talked to the Big Ten office about the calls. But he's watching what he says in public.

He says he finds himself mentally correcting himself and trying to make sure he doesn't say anything inappropriate.

It says that the crew is working this weekend, but that the crew will be suspended for games on Nov 17, and some of the crew may be fired?

And they're supposed to work their best this weekend knowing that next weekend they will be suspended and possibly lose their job after that?

There's a great way to boost morale: publicize this crap. Just more proof that other people's dirty laundry belongs nowhere in the public eye.

Why can't this stuff stay private where it belongs?

I, as a member of the public, only care when good things happen to people!

And when "bad things" happen you prefer not to know?

Worst call I have seen talked about was late in the game a Purdue receiver caught a pass close to the sideline and then stepped out of bounds to stop the clock but covering official would it, apparently ruling "forward progress". I am looking for the video of it.

Correct; at least not in this case. It doesn't affect public safety. I don't see what good it does either. How about this:

Does your employer publish a news article when you make a mistake?

I saw this play. The receiver did not run out of bounds forwards. He caught the ball coming back and went out of bounds running backwards. Doesn't the clock continue to run if you go out of bounds backwards?

Not if the player goes out of bounds on his own with no contact from a defensive player.

You are going to have to come to grips with the fact that officials' mistakes happen in front of millions of people. The integrity of the sport depends on players and fans knowing the officials are the best the league can employ.

A coach with a losing record is also no threat to public safety, but when he gets fired it usually is published and broadcast to the world.

That was my original thought. But the official seemed so sure of himself on the call that I figured he must be right and Tiller just had an awesomely bad brain-cramp on the rule.

This being the case, that seems like a very, very bad error on the part of the official.

Ya thanks bud. Thanks for explaining it to me. :rolleyes:

I had a varsity game on Sat. so I was forced to watch the game on tape. First let me say--Joe Tiller has a history of whining big time (almost to the level of Joe Paterno!), so I would take what he says with a grain of salt.

The potential TD (ruled incomplete) that was mentioned looked like a TD to me on replay. It was never reviewed by the booth (plus Purdue has a challange at their disposal). ESPN only showed 1 or 2 replays on TV, but I feel it was fair to say that it could have gone either way.

As for the foward progress situation...here the officials were 100% correct. A5 catches the ball while moving back toward the original LOS. Gets 1 or 2 feet inbounds, steps OOB about 2 yards back (toward the LOS) from where A5 first touched the ball. Textbook case of forward progress ending in bounds. LJ correctly spots where he completed the catch (i.e. first touched the ground with the ball) and winds the clock. The TV guys on ESPN said the call was terrible, said it needed to be looked at upstairs, and went so far as to call the LJ by name (a point that really ticked me off considering he made the right call...but then again, they were interested in hearing themselves talk and creating some sort of controversy...plus Andre Ware knows everything, ha!).

From this description, that's not forward progress if he's "moving back toward the LOS". The ball should be spotted where he stepped out of bounds, not where you say his forward progress was if he wasn't forced back by a defender. Thus, he went out of bounds on his own, and the clock should be stopped.

Wha choo talking 'bout Willis???

That is not the NCAA ruling (don't have a clue about Fed) No contact caused him to go backwards, no forward progress.

TXMike,

That would not be a FED ruling either.

Maybe you could give us a rule citation(NCAA) that would support you on why the clock should not have been stopped?

And they sent the crew to the Ohio State-Illinois game. At least they went to a game that meant nothing, eh?

I don't think the punishments were "announced" but rather "leaked". Huge difference!! It would be great if the leaker could be found and dealt with but we need to be clear that the conference did not put this info out there. I don't think any major conference would be that ignorant to announce a suspension and trhen send the same guys to one of the biggest games the conference has that year.

I agree with comment that was posted about officials making mistakes, and you need to move on.

However, two of the officials on the crew in question have struggled the past few years in the Big Ten.

This crew worked the Michigan/Minnesota game this year and there were a couple of things that I noticed in that game that got both coaches kinda bothered.

I also noticed a couple of things yesterday during the Ohio State/Illinois game they were doing that made me wonder at times.

80,000 people don't normally watch me work live, with hundreds of thousands more watching live on TV, with tons of actual money wagered (legally or illegally) on my work product.

Sad but true. Any analogies of jobs in the "real world" to officiating really don't hold water.

In the corporate world, performance is the only thing that matters. If I don't perform, I am axed. However, before that happens, there is not a notice sent to 1 million shareholders. :rolleyes:

I can't imagine that employee morale stays up if 500,000 shareholders are told that Mr. John Doe from the Springfield, MO facility will be fired unless he meets the next quarterly goal.

JMHO.

Is this the same crew that also worked the Illinois/Michigan game?

No. I watched that game and it is not the same crew.

There was a fumble on a long run in the first quarter that was ruled down. Apparently replay was not working (technical difficulties) and the call was not overturned. I thought that I heard a whistle before the OSU defender recovered the "fumble".

Look. No one from OSU is arguing that the call had anything to do with the outcome of the game.

Yet a couple of questions beg to be asked.

How could officials at the highest level of college football blow such an
obvious call?

But more important, if instant replay is supposed to make sure the calls are correct how did it fail to do so in this case? (and scores of others over the last few years)

If instant replay is not one hundred per cent fool proof why have it at all?

Comparing the box score from PSU/Perdue and Ill/O. St, only the umpire in the Ill/O. St game was not in the PSU/Perdue game.

Great to heard that. Good official, good man. I did not think that any of the questionable calls in the OSU/ILL game involved him.

REPLY: The same would be true in Federation. Forward progress can only be ruled when a player's movement toward his opponent's goal line is involuntarily stopped by an opponnent. Going backward of one's own volition is never reason to blow the ball dead or award progress in advance of the dead ball spot. Clock should have stopped in the PSU/Purdue game.

Everyone here in Illinois thinks they finally got the good end of blown calls.

Only 3 flags in the OSU-Illnois game? WOW!

Speak for yourself...