Referees with an agenda

[red sail]

It's obvious that the short dark haired ref always has a negative bias against Rutgers. Do these guys ever get reviewed by a head of referees on their body of work? I thought I read that a coach can choose who they prefer not referee our games.

I know it's up to our players to make plays, but when there's a 6th man on the floor against us, it takes our home court advantage away.

 

[FELONIOUSMONK]

Watching on TV was he the one who caused announcer Steven Bardo to ask what game that ref was watching? The art or science of officiating has been vilified the past few days. With good reason.

 

[RUChoppin]

There's always bad calls, and overall officiating quality hasn't been great.... but I think this was the highest number of bizarre out of bounds calls I've seen in one game.

 

[BigEastPhil]

It's obvious that the short dark haired ref always has a negative bias against Rutgers. Do these guys ever get reviewed by a head of referees on their body of work? I thought I read that a coach can choose who they prefer not referee our games.

I know it's up to our players to make plays, but when there's a 6th man on the floor against us, it takes our home court advantage away.

I was all over this ref the whole game especially after he did not rule the ball in our favor in the first half when Thomas Allen's body was half out of bounds and he awarded the ball to Nebraska. He was also the ref who had a call over turned by the other refs when it was clearly hit out of bounds by a Nebraska defender and he again awarded the ball to Nebraska. Reminded me of a young Joe Pesci look alike. I kept yelling at him: "How do I amuse you...Am I a clown?"

 

[red sail]

There's always bad calls, and overall officiating quality hasn't been great.... but I think this was the highest number of bizarre out of bounds calls I've seen in one game.

on a diving play at center court, kiss and a nebraska player both dived for the ball. It was clear, the nebraska player last touched the ball but the ref insisted it went off kiss last and gave the ball to the huskers. He wouldnt even review the play. ridiculous.

 

[sct1111]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

 

[FELONIOUSMONK]

When a white hand in the midst of 5 black ones knocks a ball out of bounds and doesn't get called for it then it's time for Lenscrafters.

 

[BigEastPhil]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

I understand being a ref isn't easy buy when you get hosed as often and as consistently as we do, there's a common theme in awarding the opposition with judgment calls - well because it's Rutgers and we're irrelevant.

 

[bac2therac]

I was all over this ref the whole game especially after he did not rule the ball in our favor in the first half when Thomas Allen's body was half out of bounds and he awarded the ball to Nebraska. He was also the ref who had a call over turned by the other refs when it was clearly hit out of bounds by a Nebraska defender and he again awarded the ball to Nebraska. Reminded me of a young Joe Pesci look alike. I kept yelling at him: "How do I amuse you...Am I a clown?"

that was insane....I dont know how they could have said he wasnt out. I will watch the replay but from my seats they are right in view with the baseline, he looked clearly out to me, the ball wasnt out, he was. Refs were definitely sketchy on the out of bounds calls. The refs called tons of fouls early in the 2nd half and both teams were deep do but seemed to back off as the game progressed and it did work to our benefit and I would say we did get some calls our way more than not.

 

[e5fdny]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

I think some in the thread were actually at the game and up close.

 

[RUChoppin]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

The weird thing to me is that refs are usually pretty good with "last touch" calls - it's an area where slow motion replay on TV usually backs them up, even if it's a close call. To have 3-4 botched out of bounds calls in a single game is out of the ordinary.

Overall, the refs felt like they were all over the place this game. Lots of contact not called in both directions, then ticky tack contact called in both directions at other points. Some strange traveling calls, too. In the end, I think we got the better end of the stick, slightly - but I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of items that come up when this game is graded by the officiating office.

 

[LC-88]

It's obvious that the short dark haired ref always has a negative bias against Rutgers. Do these guys ever get reviewed by a head of referees on their body of work? I thought I read that a coach can choose who they prefer not referee our games.

I know it's up to our players to make plays, but when there's a 6th man on the floor against us, it takes our home court advantage away.

I think they do get reviewed. That's the problem.

 

[RU MAN]

that was insane....I dont know how they could have said he wasnt out. I will watch the replay but from my seats they are right in view with the baseline, he looked clearly out to me, the ball wasnt out, he was. Refs were definitely sketchy on the out of bounds calls. The refs called tons of fouls early in the 2nd half and both teams were deep do but seemed to back off as the game progressed and it did work to our benefit and I would say we did get some calls our way more than not.

I'm watching it from 3,000 miles away, and the TV commentator even noted what a bad call it was near center court. But that wasn't the only bad call regarding who to give the ball to. I counted at least 3 occasions when the ball was rewarded to Nebraska. I'm not one to bitch about officiating, but this crew was blatantly biased against us on several of the aforementioned calls.

 

[ScarletDave]

With 17 minutes to go in the half, Rutgers had 5 fouls and Nebraska 4 already. Both teams were in the bonus by 14 mins. I don’t care what two teams are playing, that’s a terrible job by a referee crew. Should make the game safe and fair, not become a part of it.

 

[hoquat63]

Funny - if you look at Huskers board lots of complaints that refs

 

[biazza38]

With 17 minutes to go in the half, Rutgers had 5 fouls and Nebraska 4 already. Both teams were in the bonus by 14 mins. I don’t care what two teams are playing, that’s a terrible job by a referee crew. Should make the game safe and fair, not become a part of it.

I missed the start of the second half. I noticed that immediately when I turned the game on. That is brutal. Tightly officiated games do not help us

 

[SirScarlet]

i thought the officiating in the first half was brutal (in the Huskers favor). 2nd half there were too many fouls called...BUT: 1) they were balanced - for the most part - in what they called. I can live with that 2) in yesterdays game, calling it tight like that favored us. so again, I can live with that ;)

 

[RUinOhio]

there were at least 4 obvious incorrect out of bounds calls, all by the guy with the gray hair. imo they were just mind boggling.

Pike was riding them pretty good from what I saw which was good.

the Kiss play at least they immediately called a "makeup" foul

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

I have, it is not easy. But that's why there are two others out there. a bad call here and there is one thing. You can't give a game 3-4 really bad ones.

 

[RUChoppin]

Funny - if you look at Huskers board lots of complaints that refs

Huskers have a right to complain about the refs, as do we - lots of missed/odd calls throughout.

 

[kcg88]

Huskers have a right to complain about the refs, as do we - lots of missed/odd calls throughout.

They gave us at least one makeup call (I think they called a hold on a screen, which can be called every single trip but they obviously whistled it there as a make-up)... Same as against Northwestern. Problem is that giving us possession of the ball isn't as valuable as the points put on the board following the missed call.

As a Rutgers fan I was happy to at least get the makeup calls. But as a fan of the sport it's infuriating: compounding one bad call with another.

 

[hrdcorhays]

I think they do get reviewed. That's the problem.

Last touch on OOB is only reviewable in the last 2 minutes.

 

[knight82]

Is it me or does it seem that officiating in all sports ' college and pro has gotten a lot worse since the advent of replay?

 

[kcg88]

Is it me or does it seem that officiating in all sports ' college and pro has gotten a lot worse since the advent of replay?

It's also been the advent of every game being on TV, and filmed from multiple angles.

 

[RU-ROCS]

It's obvious that the short dark haired ref always has a negative bias against Rutgers. Do these guys ever get reviewed by a head of referees on their body of work? I thought I read that a coach can choose who they prefer not referee our games.

I know it's up to our players to make plays, but when there's a 6th man on the floor against us, it takes our home court advantage away.

I'm not sure it's an agenda. But, the guy is certainly a lousy ref. He should not be renewed by the Conference. They can find better candidates at a CYO game.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Fellows — Give it a break. Just watch the game. Do not officiate it. There is no vendetta.
Tim Higgins is the only ref who I thought was amused that he was assigned to Rutgers’ games. He made sure he used every call in the book against us. If he made one 3-second call, or one carrying the ball call, a year, it was on Rutgers.
Would be interesting to know the background of the officials — where they went to college, what state they hail from, the number of years they have officiated Big Ten games, and the participating teams records in games officiated by the official. Las Vegas is probably the only place where they keep track of such things.

 

[ancienthooper]

Always thought it was odd that the solution to having two lousy refs was to add a third lousy ref.

 

[Russ Wood]

Fellows — Give it a break. Just watch the game. Do not officiate it. There is no vendetta.
Tim Higgins is the only ref who I thought was amused that he was assigned to Rutgers’ games. He made sure he used every call in the book against us. If he made one 3-second call, or one carrying the ball call, a year, it was on Rutgers.
Would be interesting to know the background of the officials — where they went to college, what state they hail from, the number of years they have officiated Big Ten games, and the participating teams records in games officiated by the official. Las Vegas is probably the only place where they keep track of such things.

Kenpom.com has kept Officials Rankings since the 2015-16 season. I have ZERO idea what metric is used by Kenpom to rank them. Based on Kenpom.com rankings the officials you had for the Nebraska game were ranked:

No. 28 Paul Szelc

No. 54 Lew Garrison

No. 67 Rob Kueneman

I think they need to hire more officials because the busiest officials often work more than 100 games in a season. I also think that officials should work as a crew, like they do in the NFL and MLB (I’m not sure about NHL or NBA), granted this is college and not the pros so there are so many more teams. But something needs to be done. I covered a game Saturday that featured 62 fouls and 76 free throws. Some of the calls were mind boggling bad.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I'm still trying to figure out HOW you can be face down on the floor with the ball, roll over and pass it, and NOT get called for walking. Oh...it just so happened that a guy hit a 3 off the pass, as well, but what the ****???!!!

 

[RUChoppin]

I'm still trying to figure out HOW you can be face down on the floor with the ball, roll over and pass it, and NOT get called for walking. Oh...it just so happened that a guy hit a 3 off the pass, as well, but what the ****???!!!

I particularly liked the "laying with your entire torso over the end line, but redirected the rolling ball back to a teammate without it being out of bounds" play, myself.

Oh, and the phantom tip on that errant pass out of bounds.

Seriously, though, we had a bunch of calls go our way in that game, too, and I'd say probably a few more our way than theirs - it was just the cluster of bad out of bounds calls in one game that got my attention.

 

[bowlgoal]

Would be nice if coaches were allowed to challenge one call per half. You have the ability to look at the replay and it’s frustrating when so many calls are wrong. 1 challenge per half would at least help correct two bad calls.

 

[ChasRC69]

How many on this forum have actually been a referee before? It's not easy. Of course on our HD TV's with super slow motion replays and multiple camera angles it's going to make a human referee look bad.

To a point, yes. But if those plays are clear from section 214, an official on the court should be able to see it. One that one play, he pointed right at the Nebraska player and still gave to ball to them.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Other than the ob plays and 1 or 2 TickytackS I thought the refs were pretty darn good.

 

[dconifer]

Funny - if you look at Huskers board lots of complaints that refs

Yeah, you guys are doing it wrong. The conspiracy theories are for when you don't win...

 

[e5fdny]

Yeah, you guys are doing it wrong. The conspiracy theories are for when you don't win...

It’s what we do.

If complaining and handwringing were a NCAA sport we would be the equivalent of the John Wooden era UCLA teams. NOBODY can touch us.

 

[dconifer]

It’s what we do.

If complaining and handwringing were a NCAA sport we would be the equivalent of the John Wooden era UCLA teams. NOBODY can touch us.

It was a heck of a win!

 

[new jersey1]

I was all over this ref the whole game especially after he did not rule the ball in our favor in the first half when Thomas Allen's body was half out of bounds and he awarded the ball to Nebraska. He was also the ref who had a call over turned by the other refs when it was clearly hit out of bounds by a Nebraska defender and he again awarded the ball to Nebraska. Reminded me of a young Joe Pesci look alike. I kept yelling at him: "How do I amuse you...Am I a clown?"

that was insane....I dont know how they could have said he wasnt out. I will watch the replay but from my seats they are right in view with the baseline, he looked clearly out to me, the ball wasnt out, he was. Refs were definitely sketchy on the out of bounds calls. The refs called tons of fouls early in the 2nd half and both teams were deep do but seemed to back off as the game progressed and it did work to our benefit and I would say we did get some calls our way more than not.

I watched the game on tv and I also thought we made out pretty well with the calls. I can’t recall the specifics, but down the stretch one of our players committed a foul that was not called, which benefited us and led to us pulling away. Announcer also commented on the no call at the time.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The biggest problem with officials ...and I have been saying this for years...is that they get a lot of the calls WRONG ...because they are NOT in position to make the call

There needs to be an emphasis on this

Even though we have three refs...they should not be statues in their spots. They need to be moving far more than they do to Improve visibility sightlines to be in the right position to make the call ...and then the calls will get better

Until the heads of officials empathizes this, we will have a lot of bad calls that many are preventable due to positioning sightlines

 

[e5fdny]

I wonder if they would ever go to four like in Hockey.

 

[fischy5000]

Is it me or does it seem that officiating in all sports ' college and pro has gotten a lot worse since the advent of replay?

It was probably always just as bad...you just didn't know the ref made a bad call because there was no way to tell.