Officiating Mistakes

[Coug-Vandal]

I'm surprised nobody has commented on this.

Analysis: WSU has had more bad luck with officiating than any team in the Pac-12

Jon Wilner says it's beyond stunning that the Cougars have been on the wrong end of 60% of the Pac-12's major officiating gaffes over the past five years.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[CougSinceBirth]

It's not stunning to me. The conference doesn't like when "the little guy" wins big time.

 

[425cougfan]

Also, never forget this egregious non-PI call from 2014. I tweeted at Wilner about it (he only covered mistakes in the past few years, but this still really pisses me off).

 

[NMBRCRNCHR]

Thanks for picking at the scars! The one fan base that actually has a case for officiating costing them games...I always knew it

 

[Coug90]

Was it even intentional grounding to begin with? From the stands looked like a receiver was close enough and the ball dropped in the field of play. If he wasn’t outside the pocket it seemed close.

regardless there was a similar play with Nix later where he started rolling left but never left the pocket then rolled back right and was still in the pocket then heaved it way OB…no flag. The inconsistency of it is the maddening part.

 

[425cougfan]

Was it even intentional grounding to begin with? From the stands looked like a receiver was close enough and the ball dropped in the field of play. If he wasn’t outside the pocket it seemed close.

regardless there was a similar play with Nix later where he started rolling left but never left the pocket then rolled back right and was still in the pocket then heaved it way OB…no flag. The inconsistency of it is the maddening part.

In real time, I remember thinking it just went straight over the head of Watson, who had bled to the outside. Brando kept repeating that it would have been grounding, but he had shown on some other occasions he couldn't really see what was going on. It was weird.

 

[CougInSpain]

Not Pac-12 Ref related but there are still 2 seconds left in the 98' RoseBowl.

 

[ttowncoug]

It feels to be like the Pac-12 officials are a "good ole boy" club that watches out for itself.

It needs to be a group that is accountable for calling the game right.

I too thought the grounding call was somewhat "sus" (as the kids say).

 

[BiggsCoug]

Imagine you’re a gambler in Vegas… When you go looking for games to influence, do you choose the high visibility games? Do you choose teams in huge metro areas? Or do you pursue games with rural teams? Teams that play late night with fewer eyes? Teams that have smaller crowds? Teams that maybe have a disgruntled player???

WSU, OSU, etc are schools that are ripe for the picking to be influenced. Would anyone be surprised if the Pac 12 found a ref cheating for $$$???

If I sat down and thought about it I could prob come up with at least a half dozen other games WSU got screwed on… Bobby Wade comes to mind.

 

[ttowncoug]

Biggs...was that the phantom Arizona endzone catch years ago? That was so painful...before instant replay is/was the excuse then.

The good news: at least Wilner is calling them out. We haven't had that kind of support -- ever.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Biggs...was that the phantom Arizona endzone catch years ago? That was so painful...before instant replay is/was the excuse then.

The good news: at least Wilner is calling them out. We haven't had that kind of support -- ever.

Yep.

Wasn’t there a game Borghi was called out of bounds but wasn’t and his long td was called back? Maybe against Stanford?

 

[Wazzubrooz]

Wow. Let me be very clear. It has always been fairly obvious the the WSU’s and the Oregon States of the world aren’t supposed to be beating the USC’s and Oregon’s of the world. There always has to be something like a last minute holding penalty on a long run or pass to make sure the ‘right team’ wins. Give me a break! For those who claim a level playing field, I call BS. Another example was the remaining 2 seconds in the Rosebowl vs Michigan. WSU wasn’t supposed to beat Michigan and therefore the clock ran out making sure There was chance of that!

 

[Wazzubrooz]

Big name, blue blood teams always get the majority of the calls.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Wow. Let me be very clear. It has always been fairly obvious the the WSU’s and the Oregon States of the world aren’t supposed to be beating the USC’s and Oregon’s of the world. There always has to be something like a last minute holding penalty on a long run or pass to make sure the ‘right team’ wins. Give me a break! For those who claim a level playing field, I call BS. Another example was the remaining 2 seconds in the Rosebowl vs Michigan. WSU wasn’t supposed to beat Michigan and therefore the clock ran out making sure There was chance of that!

There is an AC in there too.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

There is an AC in there too.

2002 at home...

(I was there.)

 

[95coug]

Yep.

Wasn’t there a game Borghi was called out of bounds but wasn’t and his long td was called back? Maybe against Stanford?

And, there’s the McCaffery fumble that wasn’t.

 

[Stretch 74]

2002 at home...

(I was there.)

Some of you here may remember that I used to head up the Pierce County Cougar Club meetings. We met weekly during football season and had telecons with Cougar coaches, and also hosted guest speakers. We had former players, AD officials, former coaches, almost every year we had Curtis coach Bob Lucey, same with Bob Robertson. James Donaldson came. One time the Henderson brothers brought along Jason Gesser. Sometimes we had either a HS or PAC official as our guest.

One such official was only a year or two after that Apple Cup, and of course he was asked about that call against Kegel. Surprise! Turns out he was one of the officials for that game, I think was a line judge but may have been a back judge. He told us that the rule states that if it is uncertain if a thrown ball is a forward pass or a lateral, that it is assumed to be a lateral. He also said that the play was originally ruled an incomplete forward pass, but that the Referee overruled the other officials and made the change to a lateral, thus deciding the game from a position where he could not tell if it was a lateral or a forward pass. Shittski!!! That call still burns my ass after all these years!

I don't recall the name of the head ref at that game, maybe others do.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Some of you here may remember that I used to head up the Pierce County Cougar Club meetings. We met weekly during football season and had telecons with Cougar coaches, and also hosted guest speakers. We had former players, AD officials, former coaches, almost every year we had Curtis coach Bob Lucey, same with Bob Robertson. James Donaldson came. One time the Henderson brothers brought along Jason Gesser. Sometimes we had either a HS or PAC official as our guest.

One such official was only a year or two after that Apple Cup, and of course he was asked about that call against Kegel. Surprise! Turns out he was one of the officials for that game, I think was a line judge but may have been a back judge. He told us that the rule states that if it is uncertain if a thrown ball is a forward pass or a lateral, that it is assumed to be a lateral. He also said that the play was originally ruled an incomplete forward pass, but that the Referee overruled the other officials and made the change to a lateral, thus deciding the game from a position where he could not tell if it was a lateral or a forward pass. Shittski!!! That call still burns my ass after all these years!

I don't recall the name of the head ref at that game, maybe others do.

His name was A’sshole Cheater.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Some of you here may remember that I used to head up the Pierce County Cougar Club meetings. We met weekly during football season and had telecons with Cougar coaches, and also hosted guest speakers. We had former players, AD officials, former coaches, almost every year we had Curtis coach Bob Lucey, same with Bob Robertson. James Donaldson came. One time the Henderson brothers brought along Jason Gesser. Sometimes we had either a HS or PAC official as our guest.

One such official was only a year or two after that Apple Cup, and of course he was asked about that call against Kegel. Surprise! Turns out he was one of the officials for that game, I think was a line judge but may have been a back judge. He told us that the rule states that if it is uncertain if a thrown ball is a forward pass or a lateral, that it is assumed to be a lateral. He also said that the play was originally ruled an incomplete forward pass, but that the Referee overruled the other officials and made the change to a lateral, thus deciding the game from a position where he could not tell if it was a lateral or a forward pass. Shittski!!! That call still burns my ass after all these years!

I don't recall the name of the head ref at that game, maybe others do.

This would've been one of those "call stands" in 2022.

Reggie Williams deserved to have those bottles tossed at him. You don't go to an away student section, check off "WSU" on your shirt, and expect civil response.

 

[95coug]

Some of you here may remember that I used to head up the Pierce County Cougar Club meetings. We met weekly during football season and had telecons with Cougar coaches, and also hosted guest speakers. We had former players, AD officials, former coaches, almost every year we had Curtis coach Bob Lucey, same with Bob Robertson. James Donaldson came. One time the Henderson brothers brought along Jason Gesser. Sometimes we had either a HS or PAC official as our guest.

One such official was only a year or two after that Apple Cup, and of course he was asked about that call against Kegel. Surprise! Turns out he was one of the officials for that game, I think was a line judge but may have been a back judge. He told us that the rule states that if it is uncertain if a thrown ball is a forward pass or a lateral, that it is assumed to be a lateral. He also said that the play was originally ruled an incomplete forward pass, but that the Referee overruled the other officials and made the change to a lateral, thus deciding the game from a position where he could not tell if it was a lateral or a forward pass. Shittski!!! That call still burns my ass after all these years!

I don't recall the name of the head ref at that game, maybe others do

Wasn't that a Gordon Riese game?

My seats had a good view, and live, I thought it was going to be forward. I've never seen a replay that made me think otherwise. Problem was it didn't travel far enough to really establish a clear line. My opinion is based largely on where Kegel released and where the receiver was.

I will go to my grave believing that was a forward pass, that McCaffrey fumbled, and that we've still got one play left in the rose bowl.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Wasn't that a Gordon Riese game?

My seats had a good view, and live, I thought it was going to be forward. I've never seen a replay that made me think otherwise. Problem was it didn't travel far enough to really establish a clear line. My opinion is based largely on where Kegel released and where the receiver was.

I will go to my grave believing that was a forward pass, that McCaffrey fumbled, and that we've still got one play left in the rose bowl.

Rewatching that game (my memory isn't as good as some of you guys') and I'm at 6:25 left in the 4th, the first series after Gesser goes out and UW botches the punt to give it to us on the 1.5 yd line. That series may have been the game, and the irony was (and we all knew this), the announcers talk about how the playbook, according to Price, doesn't change but we all knew that Kegel had a gimped playbook and they wouldn't let him throw the ball. If we score the TD right there, its very well game over.

As the series went on, they lined up in 5 wide and I suddenly had PTSD - THE KEGEL KEEPER!!! What a shit show that series was... not how I should have started my Saturday.

*** as I continue to watch this game, I feel like this Cougar team was walking around with their #3 ranking and thinking that there's no way they can lose to this UW team, just keep doing what we do. At no point did they feel the MO slipping away, even though it was. It also didn't help that Green was out as well, and they insisted on letting Tippins get stuffed for no gain. This game wasn't lost in OT, it was lost the minute Kegel took the field and the entire team decided to not rally around him. The pick wasn't a great ball, but Bush fell over himself and couldn't beat a 5'9" DB to get that ball... wtf. UGH... I should stop watching.

*** every Kegel series started with a false start. Just throwing that out there. I'm in overtime now. And without pressing play, why do I know that the 1st and 15 play is going to be Tippins between the tackles?
**** Nope, another underthrown 50/50 ball to Bush. They saved the Tippins run for 2nd and long.
**** Ok, so we just got to the Pickett double forward pass play. Could be argued by UW fans that it was a fumble, but I think the safe and correct call is forward pass. Talk about a crazy game with the officiating...

 

[Cougsocal]

Rewatching that game (my memory isn't as good as some of you guys') and I'm at 6:25 left in the 4th, the first series after Gesser goes out and UW botches the punt to give it to us on the 1.5 yd line. That series may have been the game, and the irony was (and we all knew this), the announcers talk about how the playbook, according to Price, doesn't change but we all knew that Kegel had a gimped playbook and they wouldn't let him throw the ball. If we score the TD right there, its very well game over.

As the series went on, they lined up in 5 wide and I suddenly had PTSD - THE KEGEL KEEPER!!! What a shit show that series was... not how I should have started my Saturday.

*** as I continue to watch this game, I feel like this Cougar team was walking around with their #3 ranking and thinking that there's no way they can lose to this UW team, just keep doing what we do. At no point did they feel the MO slipping away, even though it was. It also didn't help that Green was out as well, and they insisted on letting Tippins get stuffed for no gain. This game wasn't lost in OT, it was lost the minute Kegel took the field and the entire team decided to not rally around him. The pick wasn't a great ball, but Bush fell over himself and couldn't beat a 5'9" DB to get that ball... wtf. UGH... I should stop watching.

*** every Kegel series started with a false start. Just throwing that out there. I'm in overtime now. And without pressing play, why do I know that the 1st and 15 play is going to be Tippins between the tackles?
**** Nope, another underthrown 50/50 ball to Bush. They saved the Tippins run for 2nd and long.
**** Ok, so we just got to the Pickett double forward pass play. Could be argued by UW fans that it was a fumble, but I think the safe and correct call is forward pass. Talk about a crazy game with the officiating...

People always talk about the Kegel call, but even had it been called a pass attempt, we were never going to score a TD to win it. Our only chance have would be a UW FG miss at some point. We hadn't even managed to get a 1st down with Kegel behind center. Frankly, Price should have had Gesser's ankle taped up and have him hobble back in. A hobbled Gesser lit UCLA up. Price didn't realize how Gesser dependant that team was emotionally, until it was too late.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

People always talk about the Kegel call, but even had it been called a pass attempt, we were never going to score a TD to win it. Our only chance have would be a UW FG miss at some point. We hadn't even managed to get a 1st down with Kegel behind center. Frankly, Price should have had Gesser's ankle taped up and have him hobble back in. A hobbled Gesser lit UCLA up. Price didn't realize how Gesser dependant that team was emotionally, until it was too late.

Well, Price was probably preoccupied with his *ahem* destiny at this point in the season.

 

[Cougsocal]

Well, Price was probably preoccupied with his *ahem* destiny at this point in the season.

Oh man, don't remind me. It was the start of Price's and WSU's descent from their pinnacle, if you think about it. It was all "Destiny."

 

[CougEd]

His name was A’sshole Cheater.

Actually it is A-hole Cheatersin

 

[CougEd]

Imagine you’re a gambler in Vegas… When you go looking for games to influence, do you choose the high visibility games? Do you choose teams in huge metro areas? Or do you pursue games with rural teams? Teams that play late night with fewer eyes? Teams that have smaller crowds? Teams that maybe have a disgruntled player???

WSU, OSU, etc are schools that are ripe for the picking to be influenced. Would anyone be surprised if the Pac 12 found a ref cheating for $$$???

If I sat down and thought about it I could prob come up with at least a half dozen other games WSU got screwed on… Bobby Wade comes to mind.

Trufants first playing time and he was on Feb coverage of that dropped ball. And it wasn’t even close . It was like the pic of the Oregon player hitting the receiver while the ball was still two feet away.