Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Outback Bowl outrage!
The refs hosed the Hawkeyes all day long, first late in the first half having called a helmet-to-helmet personal foul that was revealed on the replay to be no such thing. That penalty kept alive a drive that resulted in a last-minute Florida touchdown.
The ultimate outrage, though, came with only a minute left in the game, when Iowa recovered an onside kick in Florida territory and set itself up for the tying touchdown. The refs flagged Iowa for having been offside, Iowa had to kick again, and Florida covered it to end the game for all intents and purposes. Unfortunately, there was no way that Iowa was offside, as this photo quite plainly reveals!
The greatest miscarriage of justice since the execution of Breaker Morant
!Florida, it should be said, played a very slick game involving some very gutsy calls. Nevertheless, this officiating crew should never get another bowl game.
9 Comments:
By 
RattlerGator, at
Tue Jan 03, 12:58:00 PM:
Though we apparently had an officiating crew that surely has had better days, come on -- Iowa was the beneficiary of some hellacious calls and non-calls as well. Fifty passes playing catch-up ball all day and not one holding penalty? And please note the angle of that photo grab on the onsides kick -- it doesn't provide a straight-on view. In fact, it gives a warped view quite beneficial to Iowa's claim. But take another objective look at your man who was called for the penalty, and notice how much further ahead he is of his teammates.
He was offsides.
Tough call, no doubt. Many officials wouldn't have made it, no doubt. But equally not in doubt is the fact that Florida was the clearly superior team. That 31-7 lead in the third quarter was not a gift from the refs.
Love this site, but I am passionate about those Gators. We earned that win.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Tue Jan 03, 02:02:00 PM:
It was a good win for Florida. Leak looked good (except for his dive)and should come back big next year. The fake punt call in the fourth quarter was a very gutsy move, reminiscent of the old sly fox Hayden Fry.
Iowa made some terrible errors, particularly the blocked punt and the interception return. But the last Gator touchdown of the first half was a gift from the refs, IMHO. The roughing the kicker call was borderline, but defensible, but the spearing call was bogus.
Watching Clint Solomon getting wrestled to the ground by his face mask, and then being flagged for the penalty was a little hard to swallow. And angle or no angle, that offsides call was BS, way too close to call.
By 
, at
Tue Jan 03, 02:59:00 PM:
Big Ten is hosed again. Does this qualify as news?
BTW, did you see the horrible officiating of the Michigan-Nebraska Alamo Bowl game (in both directions)? How can you put Sun Belt officials on the field in a game between Big 12 and Big Ten teams? The linemen are faster than the Sun Belt running backs!
Also heard a rumor of Kirk Ferentz going to coach the Packers or ellsewhere in the NFL. That would be a big loss for the Hawkeyes.
TIGOBLUE
By , at
Tue Jan 03, 03:19:00 PM:
Worst officiated game I have ever seen, bar none.
1. Offsides on on-side kick obviously blown.
2. Florida had 12 men on the field on the very same kickoff; no call.
3. The phantom 'helmet to helmet' call on Leak's slide.
4. Florida DB pulls Clinton Solomon to the ground by the face mask; referee calls face mask on... Solomon.
5. On Florida's crucial drive before the half, line judge gives Florida 1.5 yard generous spot on third down. To be fair, Iowa got a similar phantom yard on a second half drive, but on a second down play.
6. On the play where he was "pushed out of bounds" coming down with what should have been a 17 yard completion, Ed Hinkle actually came down in-bounds, on his shoulder. The back judge was trained on his feet.
7. Florida had at least two other occasions where they had 12 men on the field while on defense, with no call.
If that's the quality of officiating in C-USA, no wonder they're considered a complete bush league outfit. They flat out ruined what should have been a very good game between two well matched teams.
Yep, I'm biased, but when even the ESPN booth announcers are freaking at the refs' incompetence you know it's really bad.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Tue Jan 03, 04:05:00 PM:
The Kirk rumor is a bummer, and his departure would indeed be a big loss. Captain Kirk is an exceptional coach and a class act all the way. But Hawkeye fans are getting used to hearing this rumor every January since 2002.
I didn't appreciate the announcer's prediction that he's a goner pregame. Not exactly good for recruiting.
By TigerHawk, at
Tue Jan 03, 04:13:00 PM:
I agree, iowahawk -- taking nothing away from Florida, who played well and with stones, the refs sucked so royally that they need the full Abu Ghraib. Anything less would be unjust.
By , at
Wed Jan 04, 08:42:00 PM:
iowahawk has it right on each of the officiating blunders. Also, minutes before the roughing-the-QB penalty, on an Iowa possession, the ball was thrown to Iowa's Calvin Davis. The ball fell incomplete, and Davis was leveled by a Gator defender, well after the ball fell. No flag.
I'd be embarassed if I were a Gators fan.
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By , at
Wed Jan 20, 10:50:00 AM:
RattlerGator you truly are an idiot. He wasn't past that line and every camera angle including live footage shows that he wasn't. This was the worst officiated and most lopsided game in the history of college football. The Gators did nothing to earn their win but simply take the field knowing that the referees were going to hand it to them on a silver platter. Of course some Gator loving blowhard would try to say otherwise although all of the video evidence in the world shows just how bad the officiating was.
