Little Caesars Bowl: Marshall vs. Ohio
 

First of all this a great game being played with about 2mins left. Did anyone notice something different in this game with regards to the officiating crew?? The Line Judge is a female. I wish i could remember her name. I think thats totally awesome that she is working a Bowl Game.

Sarah Thomas
 

Female ref makes history at college bowl game - CFB News - FOX Sports on MSN

Just for simplicity sake, I'll delete the thread I started on this a few minutes before you....;)

She looked mechanically sound from what we saw on TV Only made 1 glaring error I noticed but it had no game impact. A guy could have (and I have seen them do it) made the same mistake.

I've seen stories on her before (I think in Referee Magazine). Supposed to be very good....and must be to reach this level!

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20091226/ca...all_dtf111.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20091226/ca...all_dtf110.jpg

I talked to an NFL friend of mine during the game and he said she is a very good official.

I was reading the article and it said she is on the prospect list for the NFL. That would be cool to see her on a crew on Sunday's..

I think that is pretty cool... But is it me or is she kind of cute?..

I'm sure there are many, many really good male officials putting in their time at the D1aa, II and III levels waiting for their shot at the big time.
Hope this really isn't a gender thingee because "we gotta have one" at this level. Good luck to her, but.. ( just my opinion).

It was very hard to see mechanically just what the line judge was doing for two reasons... that spot is at the bottom of my screen and the TV broadcast has this dang three tiered overlay cutting off a significant portion of the screen.

Aside from not flagging a back for a false start, I did not care the the punching forward and punching back mechanic. Maybe this is a CUSA requirement.. but I know it's not really done that way by the majority.
The HL did not seem to do this.

Another mechanic I did not understand why the LJ was doing this, (when I could see it) was the moving away from the line on runs toward that sideline. At least three or four times I happen to see this, the LJ had moved at least four yards away from the line in to the backfield. Again, maybe that's a CUSA requirement, but there is a lot more space to cover on the play as speed by you. The risk of getting caught up by the "tail" defenders/blockers could result in a leg whip injury.

Otherwise, the job was completed as one would expect to be completed by bowl selected officials. To put it another way, if I were on a game with her, I'd not be worried about any problems that she couldn't handle.

Frankly, all I see is an official working at a level I someday hope to be.

I saw a picture of her without the hair tucked up in the cap and in regular clothes... MILF! haha

Ok Jaybird, I'll bite.
Nothing about male vs female, but are there REALLY enough qualified and motivated people out their willing to spend the time and effort to be high quality officials?
Seems to me there are questions and lists every year looking for ideas to recruit and retain officials, and a lot of states are scaling back how many they put on the field.

Personally, I don't think anyone should give her any extra attention (and she probably feels the same way). I expect everyone here feels the best game is the one where they are not noticed.

I hope you're aware that the same arguments were used to keep blacks and Latinos out of the officiating ranks for decades. "I am of the opinion that there are plenty of qualified white men to fill the officiating ranks without having the novelty of using minorities on the crew." Doesn't sound so harmless put like that, does it?

I just want to make sure that we are talking about the same thing. This is NCAA. The competition to get into (D3, NAIA) is pretty tough. The competition to move up to where she is at (small D1) is insaine. This is her 9the year on the field total. Not too many officials are working D1 bowl games by their 9th year. Is she good? Yes. Is she being promoted? Yes. I imagine that she is seeing similar treatment that someone with the last name of Perry or Houculi is seeing. The name can get you there, but your ability allows you to stay.

I think this is at the high school level, at least all the one's I've seen are.