Snowflakes—The Officiating

Meh - some questionable calls. Some selective PFing, but overall not O’Neil level in my opinion. 

PI calls were consistently ridiculous.  They were over zealous about unsportsmanlike stuff, but I understand why given this series and what happened Thursday night.

They looked like they were in over their heads.

A few mistakes, especially early, but overall I don’t think they were particularly bad in either direction.  The reviews actually corrected a few mistakes appropriately imo.

Shitty at the start, but ended up OK. I’m sure this is a hard game to ref. 

Blood pressure stable this game

The PF flag on Black irritated me because it felt like it was a warning to both teams to keep it civil, but I don't know why they thought it would send a message. Clearly didn't mean anything.

There were more flags than a fourth of July parade....mainly when the criminals decided to take cheap shots.

Felt a little lopsided with some of their corners all over our recievers and no calls early, but it evened out as the game went on for the most part.   Definitely a little aggressive on some of the unsportsmanlike stuff but that was probably not a bad thing overall.

I thought the illegal block on Sainristil was bogus but it got lost in the roar of the Panasiuk ejection.

This is what is meant when people say "play better and the refs don't matter"

I'd be happy if this Capron ref team never did another UM game.

The officiating was terrible.  It favored MSU; if the game had been in doubt at the end, we would have been furious about it.  Michigan did get some calls, though; in particular, the MSU wide receiver taunting penalty seemed like a make-up for a bad call against Michigan on the previous play.

The start of the game was atrocious, though; Michigan's first two drives both stalled because of missed defensive pass interference; they also missed one on the last play before the halftime field goal.  Meanwhile, MSU's first drive was extended by the same kind of pass interference they had just ignored at the other end, and their touchdown drive was greatly aided by an uncalled pick on a third down conversion.

Our dear old buddy Dan Capron.Yes folks, the SAME Dan Capron from the 2016 Ohio state game. Ugh. Screw that guy. At least he wont be there in 2 weeks.

One questionable call early and after that it was fairly even imo. I mean they even took a clear TD away from MSU early (even though the defense didn’t take advantage). 
 

I give it a meh on both sides. 

I would just like to watch one game and not feel like the refs flashed complete incompetence at some point.  I get missing a call or two - our brains process and create things we think we saw. 

But to be so horrible as to not call DPI when you're 4 yards away from an obvious arm pinned down, or swallowing your whistle after a player has clearly created a yard of space by extending an arm out with a clear shove, is just unacceptable. 

Especially when a) so much money is involved - for coaches and SEC/O$U players and b) fans think they have the right to tell 18-23 year-olds that they're horrible people for not sportballing good.

Overall they called a fair game.

At least from the standpoint that they sucked for both teams.

First quarter was bad.  MSU got away with PI on our first two possessions while we were flagged ourselves  for a similar play.  If they want to let 'em play, OK, but be consistent.

At that point I was drifting into BPONE territory and wondering if the Dantonio voodoo was at work again.

Fortunately we pounded the crap out of Sparty the rest of the way.

Capron is horrible and yet the conference continues to employ him an Oneil.

Really bad.  The Tarik Black penalty was a travesty.

Snowflakes for the coaching is noticeably absent 

I think the refs did a good job today. Some iffy calls, but overall I think they called the game fairly and kept things in control later in the game. 

Sparty won a tight contest in terms of penalty yardage.  Thank God the Panisuks came through in the clutch with 2 big PFs.

Side note - Jacub P. better have his head on a swivel during next year’s game.  That is 2 years in a row with cheap shots on M players.

the call on Collins was completely wrong..... and then they made up for it and called a bad one on msu...  its as if they have the refs upstairs listening to the tv commentators saying how bad a call it was.

paye should have been ejected.

there was no foul on hutchinson.

black flexing arms to nobody seemed like a bad call.

and so many times i saw a msu player knee our guy after the play on purpose, to no call.  

They had a few bad calls and misses, but they also made some good calls that sometimes you don't see made.  That "low block" penalty on Sainristil was crazy.  They also missed a hands to the face on some Sparty defender on the play where DPJ scored but stepped out.  And the penalty on Black was pretty weak normally but defensible in the context of "let's call this game tight so it doesn't get out of hand."  It was consistent at least.  And Dantini coaches his team to commit unnecessary roughness, so calling it tight was the right move and there were some moments that had potential to be worse than they were, so credit to the crew for that.

Flex-as-unsportsmanlike was as ticky-tack as it gets.

Incompetent and often confused. Could have been the difference in a close game. Big 10 needs to seriously upgrade officiating because it's bad

Fucking terrible. PI and personal fouls were called in favor of State too frequently. Dick Capron sucked

The officiating started out lopsided. The Fox commentators even made mention of that, actually pointing out plays that were called on UM but ignored for MSU. Almost immediately after that it was more even handed.

Makes me wonder if a phone call was made. 

I'll be the dissident; I thought the officiating was pretty good. The PI calls were a little shaky at first, but they settled down the rest of the game, and did not decisively affect the outcome. They called personal fouls and unsportsmanlike very tight, and thank God they did! MSU is the chippiest team in the conference, and most of the second half, the only reason they had for playing was pure spite. Both ejection situations were handled properly, and they made the correct calls. I never saw so many flags picked up after a discussion, and I think it takes a good officiating crew to not stubbornly insist on sticking to bad decisions. Overall, satisfactory.

They were fine

Many bad calls but 2 egregious errors in my opinion:

1. Tarik Black flex - I have never seen that flagged. That is not taunting

2. Shea grounding on the trick play - There was a receiver in the area. You can't call it grounding because it sailed high.

The penalty on Black was the wrong decision. And I thought the balance of the PI calls tilted in MSU's direction. But overall they did a good job. They sent a message early on that they weren't going to tolerate much in the way of shoving, hits out of bounds, etc., and I think that set a good tone for the game. I give them credit.

The officials' most important job in this game is to prevent dirty plays by punishing questionable ones aggressively. They were effective at that, although I agree with posters saying Paye should have been ejected. (He launched and made contact to Lewerke's head with his lowered helmet. It wasn't an especially brutal play, but that's targeting in more ways than one.)

They were less good at getting PI calls right, but in this game, which should never be close anyway, most of what I want from the officials is keeping our players safe from criminal acts.

I’m simultaneously irritated with it and respect what the refs were trying to do if that makes any sense.

Conflicted feelings. Them not calling two obvious PI calls on MSU early were the only thing that stopped UM's offense, and it was grating that they then turn around and call UM for PI. First quarter felt like the PSU first half when the refs were impacting the game with bad PI noncall/calls.The penalty on Black for flexing was absolutely ridiculous, as he was facing away from any MSU player and by no means taunting. Also the unsportsmanlike on Hutchinson when MSU was causing most of the ruckus was dumb.

However, i will give them credit for ejecting that MSU player right away when the game was starting to get on hand in order to send a message.