Michigan State Snowflakes: The Officiating

Any time you lurk on a sports message board or social media or sports talk radio after a loss you’re guaranteed to hear many of the losing fans complaining about the officiating. And almost every time I roll my freaking eyes. We didn’t lose because of the refs. Stop whining Michigan fans. Be better.

Has Michigan ever lost to MSU or OSU under Harbaugh because of anything else but the refs, the weather, or injuries? It's been the same shit for 7 years blowing leads to rivals, you'd think more of our fans could put two and two together. 

It's correct to complain about certain calls, some go for or against you every game. To specifically blame officiating for a loss is forgetting about the other 150 plays in the game that matter too. 

FYI there's already a ref whining thread, hell I think there was one yesterday before the game too. 

How the strip sack td was taken away I’ll never know.  Another b10 screwjob

How the strip sack td was taken away I’ll never know.  Another b10 screwjob

Don't know how the refs overturn the fumble/td. If the refs called the MSU QB down and that's the angles we saw I would've been fine with the call on the field. 

We lost. The refs didn't run for 5tds. Didn't fumble on a rpo etc. Was there questionable calls sure. The reason we lost... Absolutely not

Fuck the big ten

Three words and you can use it in sports, politics or whatever and it’ll always ring true. Follow The Money!

There were articles all week about how high the betting lines were for this one, it’ll be the highest all year other than maybe the super bowl. Don’t tell me that doesn’t play in here? 8 reviews and they all went their way. No pass interference on them all game long. Refs walking diagonal for spots a yard or so forward each time. We didn’t solely lose because of officiating but they for sure helped them tremendously. 

Looking at the box score, Sparty was credited for 7 penalties and 75 penalty yards. Michigan had 8 penalties for 59 penalty yards. By that alone, it would seem a pretty evenly called game, especially on the road.

However, it seemed to me that we could have saved time on the replay reviews by just immediately awarding them to Sparty each time. It certainly felt like those were very one-sided.

I think back to the Ojabo/Hutchinson combo strip-sack TD near halftime that Klatt (and even Mike Perreira) thought was a pretty clear Michigan TD. And it was also ruled as such on the field. That should not have been overturned. Huge game-turning play there. Because UM went on to kick a FG to lead 23-14 at halftime instead of the 27-14 it would've been. Those 4 points were coincidentally the margin of the game.

Now, clearly, UM shot self in the foot a few more times with chances to win, but that one overturn seemed pretty egregious at the time. And, frankly, it still does.

The calls went against us, but that doesn’t mean they were bad calls. I actually agreed with all of the calls and reversals except for the uncalled PI on 4 and 3 at the end, which I called in real time.

It's never just a loss, can never be. It's always something, but never Michigan. 

Help needed from Mgoblog rulebook officionados!

Have yet to find "when are you down" definition in NCAA online rulebook.

When googled I got various answers from unofficial sources:

1) any body part other then foot or hand

2) knee or forearm

3) knee, elbow, hip, head, or wrists

It looked like possibly the "side of the calf" to me; Not the "shin" as called.

Today's officiating reminded me of a story:

A very funny author named Roger Hall once served as the public address announcer for the New York Giants in the 1950's. After one game when the officiating was particularly bad, Hall announced, "Would anyone finding a seeing-eye dog please return it to the referee's locker room?" Hall was fired, but with his acerbic wit, he probably thought it was worth it.

I can only guess what Hall would have said about today's crew. Probably would have requested a doctor to help them remove their heads from their asses.

As posted by JHumich earlier, it's not either/or with "coaching/execution" vs. "bad officiating." Both can be (and often are) true. 

Did Harbaugh make some bonehead decisions? Yes

Were there officiating calls that were at the very least questionable, and could be argued to have been both egregiously erroneous and game-changing in nature?  Yes.

Did BOTH play a factor in the outcome of the game? Almost certainly.

So, while bad officiating does not let bad play-calling or execution off the hook, it is not "whining" to address legitimately bad calls that affect the outcome of the game. Officials have a responsibility to get calls right and do so without any prejudice toward either team. When the game announcers themselves are seriously questioning the calls and the film tells a different story than the call, that's not "whining;" that is expecting the official to do the job with ethical integrity and scrutiny.

Unless you are somebody who does not care whether or not officials do their jobs right, you had better concede that the officiating can seriously change the outcome of the game.  Wasn't there an NBA official who basically got in trouble for this not too long ago?

Of course, this leads to the question as to whether or not officials face any sort of consequence for bad calls in the game, much like I in my job would be disciplined for not executing my assigned duties properly, but that's another question...

I'm sure it's an unpopular take given the general tenor of the board at the moment, but I think there was only one of the reviews that I didn't agree with after seeing the replays.

I quit whining about refs 'costing us a game' in my 20s. Anytime there's a close game the losing team will have stuff to complain about. Suck it up and move on.

The officiating wasn't great. The defense in the second half wasn't great. The turnovers weren't great. Lots of factors.

Props to MSU's coaching staff. They did a good job coaching that team and calling plays in the second half.