USC Fans Blame the Officials for Loss to Michigan

[30Duck]

I thought the officiating was fine.

 

Pac-12 refs follow USC to Michigan in Big Ten opener, and fans are irate

SPORTS.YAHOO.COM

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We thought we had escaped the Pac-12 refs at USC. We thought we were going to get a more professional performance from

 

[Charles Fischer]

Actually...on MIchigan's second touchdown, the Trojan corner/safety at the edge was held badly, and it was not seen or called.  Had I been a USC fan...I'd be howling too.  It was pretty blatant.

 

[30Duck]

On 9/21/2024 at 7:24 PM, Charles Fischer said:

I'd be howling too.  It was pretty blatant.

Well, yeah, but.

[Dave23]

The BG1 refs protect the blue blood teams and always have just like the SEC. USC is just a carpet bagger in the eyes of the conference officials. 

 

tOSU game had some calls that changed the momentum and it certainly wasn't in Marshall's favor. 

 

I'm sure we will be granted no favors in our games unless it's against the bottom half of conference.

[30Duck]

On 9/21/2024 at 8:05 PM, Dave23 said:

The BG1 refs protect the blue blood teams and always have just like the SEC. USC is just a carpet bagger in the eyes of the conference officials. 

 

tOSU game had some calls that changed the momentum and it certainly wasn't in Marshall's favor. 

 

I'm sure we will be granted no favors in our games unless it's against the bottom half of conference.

Harsh, and most likely true. 

[DanLduck]

Seems to my eyes that B1G refs allow alot of "contact" for DB's.

Our guys better be ready to fight through holding.

 

And yes, I think the refs in the B1G give preference to the bluebloods of the conference. 

[30Duck]

On 9/21/2024 at 8:16 PM, DanLduck said:

 

And yes, I think the refs in the B1G give preference to the bluebloods of the conference. 

Especially at home. 

[David Marsh]

On 9/21/2024 at 8:16 PM, DanLduck said:

Our guys better be ready to fight through holding.

In this regard I think we're better suited for the B1G. The problem with Pac-12 refs (among many problems) is that they tended to not let players play through a play and we're flag happy. 

 

This got us into trouble when he had refs from other conferences because our guys weren't physical enough and it had less to do about physicallity and more to do with how refs called penalties. 

 

If you get flagged for any contact as pass interference you're less likely to engage and battle it out with a receiver. 

 

Oregon had a lot of these overly aggressive flags the past few seasons that we frankly haven't seen this year. 

[AnotherOD]

On 9/21/2024 at 8:05 PM, Dave23 said:

The BG1 refs protect the blue blood teams and always have just like the SEC.

 

I would agree and has been part of, and to some degree, shaped the outcome of college football for as long as I've been watching (1992). I'll further suggest the Pac-12's lack of following along with this standard operating procedure (after the Pete Carroll USC run), may have played a roll in the ultimate demise of the conference.

 

The top teams in the SEC, Big10, and Big12, teams routinely in the NC hunt and at the top of the polls, I'd argue get a degree of "benefit of the doubt" or "protection with the whistles" to keep them in their spots, especially at home and in tight games.

 

Not going anywhere near suggesting a "fix", just if you were going to beat an Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, especially at their place, you better really beat them, and not expect to get anything close to a 50/50 split with the calls as a factor in pulling out a close game. You had to win without the whistles (so you better not leave it close enough to need to be decided by them).

 

In 2012, Oregon has ridden several years of success to perhaps it's best team yet, 10-0 and #2 in the polls, two games away from a spot in the National Championship game against a Notre Dame team that many, many people felt Oregon would handle as Alabama did.

 

Oregon is beating Stanford late in the game 14-7 and Stanford TE Zac Ertz goes up for a jump ball in the corner of the end zone blanketed by a Duck defender, who forces a clear bobble of the football into the air which Ertz comes down with on top of a Duck defender, pulls in and rolls over on the defender with his shoulder, the first part of his body to touch down, landing on the white out-of-bounds line. He is ruled out of bounds.

 

No clear evidence the call was wrong. Oregon ranked #2 and heading to a National Championship game, if was Alabama in the SEC, Ohio State in the B10, or Oklahoma in the B12 playing at home likely get a quick review and the play stands as called.

 

What does the Pac-12 do? Its replay official decides to re-officiate the whole play himself from the booth and Stanford is given a TD forcing OT, where Oregon is knocked out of the National Championship game. The Pac-12 goes on for the next decade mostly being an afterthought by most of the college football when it came to the BCS/Playoff conversation.

 

Does the Pac-12 have that same lackluster perception if instead it wins the 2013 BCS National Championship? I would think it would have helped. Not even mentioning on the key 4th and 1 from the Duck 11 with 2:17 seconds where the officials swallow the whistle when the right side of the Stanford OL jumps early (that Herbstreit and Musburger both mention in the broadcast) that would have made that 4th and 1 a 4th and 6 instead of a first down.

 

Shoot, the 2021 Oregon team, which didn't turn out to be so great, did start 4-0 and beat #3 Ohio State on the road to climb to #3 in the nation themselves, got hosed on about 3 calls (two personal fouls and a horrible defensive holding) which allowed eventual 3-9 Stanford to improbably drive from their own 4 yard line with 1:44 left the length of the field for a game tying TD with 0:01 on the clock, which led to an Oregon loss in OT. Watching the last 1:44 of the game you would have thought the conference actively wanted all of its teams out of National Championship contention by the first week of October.

 

Edited September 22 by AnotherOD

[Haywarduck]

I think there is pretty good research showing there is unintentional referee bias towards the home team. This is just one of the factors a team has to be aware of and work through. Either that or you can be sc and whine about it.

[Solar]

On 9/21/2024 at 8:18 PM, 30Duck said:

Especially at home. 

I was thinking the same. They will at least think twice before enraging 10s of thousands of rabid fans at an away game.

[Solar]

On 9/22/2024 at 5:26 AM, Haywarduck said:

I think there is pretty good research showing there is unintentional referee bias towards the home team. This is just one of the factors a team has to be aware of and work through. Either that or you can be sc and whine about it.

Totally agree. There are many reasons for the 3 point home advantage and referee calls are one of them.

[Just Ducky]

Be interesting to see what happens when The Buckeyes come to town.

[Haywarduck]

On 9/22/2024 at 8:09 AM, Solar said:

Totally agree. There are many reasons for the 3 point home advantage and referee calls are one of them.

It is interesting all the factors that come into play as a team travels. Few, if any, of the factors are in the traveling teams favor.

 

One fact is players performance is impacted by the time of day. If one team is playing at their prime time then they are at an advantage, usually the home team, especially when traveling across country. Referees are also a disadvantage.

 

Coaches can highlight these situations so the players are better able to accept, rise up and play through them. Or they can recruit the entitled, foster poor behavior, and then just whine about process like sc.

[DanLduck]

I agree about travel and game time being an issue. We're going to see how well our coaching staff prepares our guys for those stresses this year.

This will be a real learning year for the staff.

After the tOSU game, we travel every other week.

[Triphibius]

According to the author, USC left the PAC-12 to escape the bad officiating (and not to escape competition from the U of O, or simply greed). 

Please......

[30Duck]

Once, when Bill Walton wasn't talking about the Cascades, Willamette River, Crater Lake or the Grateful Dead, he said a road game was the true test of a team, especially a really good team. You have to feed on the sounds from the crowd, know that the fans, the other team and the Refs are against you.

 

You get a penalty. Instead of 1st & 10, it's 1st & 20, just deal with it, overcome. Keep doing that, and eventually, the opponent, the fans, the Refs will get tired, and you march on. A win on the road is a great feeling. 

[OregonDucks]

There should be no conference officials.  All conference referees should be hired, trained and employed by the NCAA.

[Drake]

Perhaps USC should blame their inability to stop a 90 yard game winning drive with a few minutes left on the clock, by a team that had virtually no passing game. 
 

In the end, the refs may have won a close game against USC.

 

I loved it. 

[30Duck]

On 9/22/2024 at 12:44 PM, Drake said:

Perhaps USC should blame their inability to stop a 90 yard game winning drive with a few minutes left on the clock, by a team that had virtually no passing game.

Exactly my sentiments. The whining about the Refs is just sad. It's not like it's new. Michigan was pretty much telling USC what they were going to do every play of that drive, and USC couldn't stop them.