Refs +/- from Brian's UFR
I went back and totaled Brian's +/- for the refs in the UFRs to get a sense of how the refs have been doing (including the debacle Saturday night). One problem I had was I don't know how serious Brian was recording a ref +/- in older years. For example, in the 2012 Air Force game, Brian's Alter Ego had an LOLRefs section. [He was complaining about illegal man down field calls or lack thereof, if you are wondering if things never change.] The grand total for that game was a -2. I stopped at this point figured that the ref +/- was not a very serious exercise at that point in time.
Below is the table (chart, if you will):
| Year | Ave + | Ave - | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 4.3 | -13.6 | -9.3 |
| 2016 | 3.6 | -8.9 | -5.3 |
| 2015 | 1.5 | -9.8 | -8.3 |
| 2014 | 1.3 | -2.9 | -1.6 |
| 2013 | 1.4 | -4.1 | -2.7 |
| 2012 | 1.1 | -1.5 | -0.4 |
The Ave + is the average of +'s that the refs got per game, Ave - is the average of -'s and the Ave is the ref score per game.
A few observations/possibilities:
1) Brian doesn't take the ref +/- very seriously (thus no overall score), but has taken it more seriously in recent years (evidenced by the increase in errors in Michigan's favor); [This to me the most likely and we really shouldn't draw too many conclusions based on this exercise]
2) Officiating is getting worse [those raw numbers keep climbing up every year, both errors in our favor and against us];
3) Brian is getting cranky in his old age [I'd expect an unbiased average to hover around zero]; or
4) The refs hate Harbaugh conspiracy is real! [This is a joke, mostly]
The three worst officiated games should come as no surprise (there was no 2016 OSU UFR):
1) MSU 2015 (-29)
2) MSU 2016 (-26)
3) Indiana 2017 (-19)
The three most favorable games:
1) Colorado 2016 (+4)
2) UCF 2016 (+2)
3) Purdue 2017 (+1)
The best officated game in the last three years as evidenced by zero +/-:
Rutgers 2016 [It is more likely that the 78-0 score likely meant Brian didn't even bother with grading the refs]
There is no real conclusion, other than a compilation of data.
October 26th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
I think I agree with the three worst, as I think about those games again.
I actually found it amusing that the Rutgers game didn't get scored. I mean, I still remember people cheering when they got their first first down. A penalty which, for example, took Rutgers back and erased the play would have simply been cruel. Funny, but cruel.
October 26th, 2017 at 7:32 PM ^
MSU 2015 is still the most poorly officiated game I have seen since I've been watching college football.
October 26th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:32 PM ^
OSU 16 takes the cake for me.
October 27th, 2017 at 2:48 AM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 7:37 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^
Yep that shit in the game prior to the spot (there was no way that was going to get reversed, I'm sorry) was egregrious. And I know refs yuck it up with players but that asshole patting the OSU player's ass as if they were buddies was sickening to see (afterward, I admit). The rest of it was clear as day terrible officiating watching live, almost foreshadowing the conclusion (as did Speight's really bad mistakes that were telling us, it wasn't going to happen).
October 26th, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
None of them have any love for M, but watch The Game because it matters in college football. Each of them said it was the most one-sided officiating they'd ever seen.
October 26th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
Nobody will ever be able to convince me that the officials did not rig that game. 2015 MSU was worse from a competency standpoint, but OSU 2016 was so blatantly intentional. Those weren't missed calls. They were ignored calls.
October 26th, 2017 at 8:32 PM ^
Agreed on 2016 OSU.The fix was in for that game. No other reasonable explanation for the number of egregiously bad calls/no calls in that game.
It is well known that OSU has boosters who pay players, why wouldn't they pay refs to get that "extra edge" against UM? It was pretty clear that UM was better than OSU last year and I suspect some OSU boosters just decided to ensure that OSU came away with the "win" in that game.
This is the only game that I have ever wateched where I felt that the officials intentionally did everything they could to ensure that UM did not win.
#neverforget #fucktthosedouchebagrefs
October 26th, 2017 at 11:15 PM ^
October 27th, 2017 at 12:01 AM ^
While one doesn't want to get drawn into conspiracy theories, there really is no conspiracy. The ref calls were wildly one sided and with '16 OSU as well as '15 MSU, both opponents went on to be brutally exposed in their respective bowl games. Big ol' goose egg. I learned a new term from this board: Jail-sexed. Everyone watching could see how clearly neither of these teams deserved to be in the game they were in.
If people think that Delaney cares about that, no he doesn't. He was easily able to influence the progression both years, raking in the money, and if the conference looked like shit oh well. Onwards! Nothing will stop him short of an FBI raid or sudden health event.
Delaney decides who he wants to get into the right games to maximize his cash. It's not going to be Sparty this year, not going to risk that, hell no. It'll either be OSU or PedoU.
October 26th, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:14 PM ^
Did anyone every go back and actually track all the calls that the 2 refs (Sagers and Schwarzel) from Ohio made during the game?
October 26th, 2017 at 9:30 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 7:55 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:44 PM ^
no kidding, Delany is the problem not solution. His pimp hands have benn active for decades, check this link that another IDs post a few days ago
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-08-16/sports/9003080807_1_wayne…
Send email? You'd sent curse to him and wish him out of BIG ASAP.
With him being the head of BIG, UM will always got assigned those questionable refs in our crucial game, and substentially got screwed.
October 26th, 2017 at 8:08 PM ^
has to be up there as well.
Refs were awful and really hurt us.
October 26th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 8:26 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 8:37 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
Stupid take. In a college football game, there are usually several but-for causes of a loss. Sometimes, the officiating is one of them, as it clearly was in the 2016 OSU game. Saying "but Michigan could have overcome the officials" is both true and utterly pointless.
October 26th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:52 PM ^
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-08-16/sports/9003080807_1_wayne…
After reading this artile, my mind has been crystal clear. There were BIG administration influencing the games for whatever reason, money, bias, hate, not following order, etc.
I don't know why people would think the NCAA football is clean. It's a dirty business, probably even more than college basketball. There are so many recruiting violation without being done anything, collegue athelete using PEDs without bening revealled.
October 26th, 2017 at 8:30 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 10:02 PM ^
i am also interested how the refs are assigned by the conference, whether there is a pattern in the last two decades. For example, why the hell, every single year, John Oneil was offciating our crucial game. You never see him calling a rutger game for us, if you think it's randomly assgined. It's never random.
October 26th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
"The refs hate Jim Harbaugh" is not a conspiracy. This shit has been going on with Delany and Michigan since the early 90's.
Schembechler says Delany called Calhoun in an attempt to ``prejudice``
the officials before Michigan`s game with Illinois last November, a game the Wolverines won.
Calhoun, who acknowledges he received the call, says he`s worried Delany`s influence will have a negative effect on officiating in the Big 10. Calhoun, the league`s supervisor since 1983, and Big 10 parted company after the 1989 season.
``If you don`t know anything about officiating, stay the hell out of it,`` Calhoun said. ``This conference deserves good officiating.``
The latest firestorm was ignited when Schembechler decided to add another chapter to last year`s autobiography, ``Bo.`` Schembechler tells how Delany called Calhoun prior to the Nov. 10 game in Champaign.
Delany reportedly wanted to have the officials pay special attention to a couple of Illinois players who were involved in an altercation the week before at Iowa. Then, according to Bo, he told Calhoun to have the officials make sure Schembechler was on his best sideline behavior.
``What did I ever do to Jim Delany?`` Schembechler wrote. ``I barely know him. He`s not a football guy. . . . Go ahead and accuse me of whining. I know the truth. That phone call prior to the game was an attempt to prejudice the officials in a key game.``
Calhoun said he thought the call was out of line.
``You can`t tell an official he should keep his eye on certain people,``
Calhoun said. ``If I say that as a supervisor, the official will go in the game with a certain mind-set. He`ll make a call against him just to please you.``
Delany was out of town Wednesday and issued this statement through Big 10 spokesman Mark Rudner: ``We will not respond to comments from former coaches and former conference employees.``
Schembechler was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Delany, though, is in good company. Schembechler had plenty of run-ins with his predessor, Wayne Duke.
Schembechler also implied the officials were out to get him in Michigan`s loss in the Rose Bowl. Specifically, the coach referred to the fourth-quarter holding penalty on Bobby Abrams that helped set up Southern Cal`s winning touchdown.
In the officials meeting the day before the game, Calhoun later told Schembechler, the group would make a point of trying to control the coach. At the postgame tailgate party, Calhoun recalled the officials were pleased they didn`t let Schembechler intimidate them. He was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty for arguing the controversial call.
October 26th, 2017 at 9:22 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 9:27 PM ^
Per cfbstats.com and since 2008, Michigan had fewer penalties called on themselves vs. their opponents 7 times (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) and called more on them than their oppoents three times (2010, 2015, 2017). Now, a couple of those years on both sides are pretty similar (like 2013 it's 4.8 vs. 4.2 a game). The big outliers are 2015 and especially 2017, which featured 1 penalty more per game on average in 2015 and almost 3 more in 2017. Though at the same time, a lot of Michigan's penalties this year seem to be procedural; false starts, offsides, alignments, even blatant holds. So if there is a conspiracy against Michigan, it's pretty faint historically. Now, maybe Harbaugh in particular invites some of it, but of course 2016 he got a pretty solid whistle.
I think the bigger takeaway is that Michigan's young and makes dumb mistakes at an unsustainable rate, and as they mature and get more comfortable on both sides of the ball, that penalty number should drop.
October 26th, 2017 at 10:05 PM ^
You know not every call is equal right?
Simply checking the total number is misleading. A holding call in any down would have likely kill the drive while a holdig no call would gift a TD to an oppositing team.
How does that compare to an offside call when you alreayd have a catch for a first down?
We need a more detailed UFR to account for questionable call, good call and no call. I think a more important stats whould be offensivly how those calls resulted in a drive being over (punt or FG); and defensively how the call help moving the chain for the opposing team. Also how the call in the same game affecting the opposing team. the game is sl dynamic that the ref can do a lot of subtle thing to change the game, including some no call, no review, questionable spot of the ball.
October 27th, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^
There's no fan in the world that watches a game for unmissed penalties and finds more against his own team than against the other team. That was clear from MGoFish's review last week.
October 27th, 2017 at 12:13 PM ^
Sure. Did I say ever call was the same?
More detailed information would be great to have. But in aggregate, it's fair to say that if a team is consistently getting fewer penalties than another, it's probably because they are holistically less error-prone than their opponents.
I was simply pointing out that OP argued Michigan has been a victim of a grand conspiracy for decades, when in fact they've pretty consistently gotten fewer penalties called on them than their opponents. There is nuance in those bland numbers, and it would help to unearth it.
October 26th, 2017 at 9:46 PM ^
Everytime we lose
Let's blame the refs.
October 26th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^
October 27th, 2017 at 2:49 PM ^
In the Big 10, footaball and basketball, refs decide games.