Shouldn't have been called according to SEC Supervisor of officials. I'm sure this makes Georgia feel better. I've always thought SEC Officials were way to quick to call this. Officials Should Have Kept Flag In Pocket
I think fans like to see this sort of thing, they want to know that the officals are being held to a standard and fairly criticised. When they keep it behind closed doors so that we as fans get no satisfaction that something is being done that is bad. Football coaches are open to all sorts of scrutiny and criticism as are the players, why protect the officals.
Like I posted at the end of the game: It was a pi$$ poor call. But these things work out in the end. LSU was also called for the same penalty when they took it into the end zone after Georgia was penalized. That gave Georgia the same opportunity. Do I wish that officials could be perfect? sure, anyone would. I am of the mindset that if the game is close enough for an official to screw you, you did not do enough to separate yourself from the competition. You are at fault more than the official's bad call.
That's a nice sentiment Tom, but what about say the BCS championship game where the teams SHOULD be evenly matched as the two best in the country? In that case... the game should be close even with best effort on both sides. Officials need to be mindful of the spirit of the rule, and the effect their call can have on a game when it's not a live ball call...
Well I agree to a degree Tom, during the game you are at the mercy of the officals so you have no choice but to just play the game and not let the officals get into your head. That's not just in football but really in basketball and baseball as well. You have to overcome their mistakes. What I'm talking about is accountability for the officals. Coaches have it, Players have both can be brutally criticised by the media and the fans they just have to take it. But the officals aren't allowed to be criticised before, during or after the game. I think they should be subject to the same scrutiny after the game, we the fans deserve to know that their supervisors have addressed their mistakes and if an offical is consistently graded poorly he needs to be fired and the fans should know it and what his mistakes are that got him fired. I'm glad that offical "is having a hard time dealing with it" he should and the referee should also been in for criticism. He could have listened to what the guy threw the flag at and overuled him. They are big boys they need to take the heat.
Close games with two teams battling it out can be decided by an official's bad call and I do not ever agree with that sort of outcome. A one point win is a win....and it can be a loss when bad officiating becomes involved.
I too agree that when bad calls are proven to be... bad calls, the official should be reprimanded. Just like we say: "It is the defenses job to keep the offense from scoring", we should also think that it is the offenses job to score enough to overcome the officials. This coming from a fan of a team of the most anemic offense in the BCS conferences. It is obvious that this is not a "self serving" statement.
This is a 180 from their original statement. As laughable as it was to say they agreed with the original call, it's just as bad to go back and say it was wrong. Brando was having a field day with this...
As long as we have human beings making calls there are going to be mistakes. As AJ will tell you St. Louis lost a World Series to Kansas City on a bad call in game 6. However my beef here is a bit different and it goes to what Scott said, the spirit of the rule. That call was horrible and at that point in the game a foul should be obvious not ticky tack. Also I have a problem with the way SEC refs interpret that rule. All to often they don't let the kids get excited. Tom, I don't think it evened out, all LSU needed was a field goal and that penalty set them up, Georgia needed a TD and had time more against them. I will say this, Vince Dooley, the ex Georgia coach, was the driving force behind that rule, so having his team burned is in a way poetic justice.
I would never accept bad officiating as just a part of the game if it could be eliminated instead. I think a winning team needs only to overcome the other team.....not the refs too.
Well humans are exactly that..and by nature imperfect. Bad calls are a part of the game. The issue at hand here is.. why are the SEC refs more human than the rest?
Dave if you were a ref do you think you could call a perfect game? There isn't a sport known to man that involves a ref where there isn't some mistakes (intentional or otherwise) and players of those sports have to over come those as well as their own mistakes.
Agreed, Terry. Those who relentlessly blame refs for losses fail to consider that absent the bad calls - and I agree there are always bad calls/no-calls - there is never a guarantee that the outcome would be any different. For every call that you think affected the outcome of the game, you can point to at least 5 instances of on-the-field play, each of which had an equal or greater influence on the outcome. The calls in the ND-Michigan game rightfully grate on ND fans, but if we don't give up the TD on the KO return or don't fumble deep in MI territory which led to a score, the game isn't close, and the calls are not a factor in our minds.
I agree Sid. What I as a fan would like to see though is refs being held accountable in a similar fashion as the coaches and players. Right now the refs are protected by the various governing bodies whether it be the SEC commish or the NFL. Let the public know whats going on, what contested calls were clearly wrong, were called correctly or no video evidence to say one way or the other.
I'm kinda with you, Terry, but part of me says that once you remove the veneer of protection for refs from the unpredictable and often rabid public, you start going headlong down a slippery slope toward potential chaos. It's the same for baseball umpires and basketball referees. Accountability? Absolutely, but as frustrating as it may be for fans, I'm thinking the process needs to remain behind closed doors.
I think though that coaching strategy is set up based on what is happening in the game at the time of the penalty and the penalty or lack thereof can throw that strategy off kilter and influence the game. The worst thing that can happen imho is a ref who does not consider both teams in his judgement calls. I wish they had in game management of their styles so somebody could let them know about the inequities they were wreaking on the field....if they don't already know it... :wink:
Ref's are human and will make mistakes, that's life. However having a stupid rule then enforcing it to closely is stupid. A lot of the problem here falls with the rule.
I'm going to agree to disagree with you about the rule, Bill. My own son disgrees with me. I think it's a good rule. The problem isn't with the rule. It's with how it's enforced. The rule was originated to put a stop to the hot dogging, look-at-me imitations of NFL players in the end zone. Remember? The kinds of me-first activities in the pro game that we all have complained about here at one time or another. It had gotten out of hand. College players are not "boys will be boys" kids. They are men who have an opportunity to learn responsibility by obeying a rule they may or may not agree with. Isn't that what we do out in the real world? Now, if you want to complain about uneven enforcement, I'm on your side. But to eliminate the rule would take away one of the positive elements of the college game that gives it dignity and separates it from the pros.
I do think a couple of things should be done with regard to the unsportsmanlike... 1. The NCAA should review the rule and clarify what constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct. The should set out as many specific examples as possible. 2. Coaches need to be educated as to the changes and what exactly will get their players the penalty. 3. Coaches need to educate their players, if they don't shame on them and they deserve what happens, same for the players if they have been educated and ignore it then shame on them and the coach and the player should admit that they knew what was done was against the rules but they did it because they thought they could get away with it. Example: in the Houston/Oakland NFL game a Raider player was given a unsportsmanlike penalty because he went to his knees after an INT in the endzone and raised his arms outwards with the ball in one hand. Now what he did was in direct violation of a written NFL rule, shame on his coach/staff and him for not knowing the rule which seems clear. But of course the rule is enforced unevenly and that's the rub.
That is my biggest beef about officiating. It is most irritating when they get it wrong continually for one team and therefore hand an advantage to the other team. Sometimes though it may not be a game long trend but rather a monumental gaffe ( strategic blunder :evil: ) that has a hand in the game's outcome. On the celebration B/S....they need to broaden what is acceptable celebration because these are young kids making great plays that get a little carried away emotionally at times.