Monday, January 02, 2006
The Outback Bowl
UPDATE: The blown call on the off-side kick was the worst call I have ever seen in a major college bowl game. It was not even close on the instant replay. Between this call and the blown helmet-to-helmet penalty late in the first half, this game has been decided by the zebras. Outrageous, and incompetent. The NCAA needs to review the films from this game carefully, and if it is as egregious as it appears, these refs should not work another bowl game.
UPDATE: The NCAA actually has an official blog called the "Double A Zone". It might be a good place to leave some off-topic comments about the officiating in the Outback Bowl.
22 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Jan 02, 09:09:00 AM:
I am and I don't. On Iowa. Go Hawks!
By 
Cassandra, at
Mon Jan 02, 09:19:00 AM:
I shall take that under advisement... :)
By , at
Mon Jan 02, 10:32:00 AM:
We don't give a damn for the whole state of Iowa, who the hell likes corn...
Just kidding. Go Iowa!!
By Gateway Pundit, at
Mon Jan 02, 01:11:00 PM:
I'm bummed out. The Hawkeyes got screwed by the refs in the first half. Hopefully they can come back.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Jan 02, 01:24:00 PM:
Speaking purely as a partisan, the officiating has been unbelievably bad. Embarrassingly bad. We may have to organize a blogstorm against these blind fools!!!!
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Jan 02, 02:19:00 PM:
Tragically, Jim in MI, I agree completely.
By , at
Mon Jan 02, 03:33:00 PM:
The Hawks got screwed bad on both calls Tigerhawk mentions. It cost them 7 points at the end of the half and a chance to tie the game starting near mid field with a minute and half to go. I think they would've done it, if the refs weren't so incompetent.
- Cy
If I wanted to be cynical, I'd wonder about any gambling habits that officiating crew may have. It was just too lop-sided in the breaks and too many bad calls on crucial plays.
By Jeff Kouba, at
Mon Jan 02, 03:40:00 PM:
Argh.
Jeff Kouba
Peace Like A River
M.S., U of Iowa, 1990
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Jan 02, 03:46:00 PM:
I'm so annoyed I think I have to go to the gym to work it off. Send these refs to Gitmo I say!
By Gordon Smith, at
Mon Jan 02, 04:46:00 PM:
Hawk,
I didn't see the game. Sorry your guys lost, and, I hesitate to mention it..., I'm a Florida fan.
I fear this will run even deeper than the political divide...
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Jan 02, 05:08:00 PM:
Actually, Screwy, I have no opinion about Florida. Neither Iowa nor Princeton plays them with any regularity!
I do, however, hate these particular Zebras, without whom Florida would not have won.
By Gateway Pundit, at
Mon Jan 02, 05:15:00 PM:
I am sickened. I had three brothers over, more family and the refs turned out to be the story of the game. Hawks got robbed! Robbed! After their great comeback they were screrwed by the refs... Sad.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Mon Jan 02, 07:31:00 PM:
That was an abomination, the most consistently egregious officiating I have ever seen, at any level. Art White couldn't have done a better job of it.
Back in my cheerleading days we had a chant for this type of madness:
Got a rope
Got a tree
All we need is the referee
Unlike Tigerhawk, I will salve my pain with a plateful of ribs.
By , at
Mon Jan 02, 08:02:00 PM:
To quote the play-by-play guy, we "straight up got jacked!"
Oh, and Bush is a confessed criminal.
Carry on.
By , at
Mon Jan 02, 11:48:00 PM:
You Hawks fans amuse me. I’m really not sure what game you were watching. I had the game on Tivo on an 52″ HDTV and slowed the onside kick down to only a few frames per second and paused it right before the kicker contacts the ball. By rule, if any part of a player's body, not just his feet, is over the line, he is offsides. ESPN's camera angle is a bad angle from the fifty yard line, not the line of scrimmage. However, Greenway's (who is 6'4")back foot clearly appears to be only about a yard short of the line of scrimmage in which case it is entirely feasible that his leading arm (or possibly his front leg) was over the line.
It was definitiely a bang bang play that could have gone either way, but the referee had the best straight on vantage point and I believe he made the right call. And last time I checked, recovering a kick didn't award you six points. There was a lot of miracles that still needed to be accomplished by Iowa even if the call had gone the other way (reminder: you had no timeouts).
And by the way, several angles conclusively show Leak was hit helmet to helmet on that one scramble at the end of the first half and our kicker was run into (not "roughed" but "run into") a few plays prior to the helmet to helmet call, so I don't see your argument there.
You want to win the game? Don't hit a quarterback who is sliding to the ground. Don't put yourself in a position where you could touch the kicker without blocking the kick. Don't overthrow a pass into the hands of one of the best cover corners in college football. Don't allow a last second Leak prayer at the end of the first half turn into six points. Your players lost the game for you, not the refs.
It’s been a tough season for the Hawkeyes fans to swallow, so vent on that call if you have to. The Hawkeyes were clearly overmatched today and I wish them all the success in the world in the Big Ten next season.
If you really do need some breakdown of the offsides call here is a frame by frame breakdown I found on another blog. Yes, it's a Gator blog, but the math doesn't lie: http://www.gatorcountry.org/wearetheboys/?p=1388
By , at
Tue Jan 03, 12:01:00 AM:
You amuse us, Anon. The photos on the site you link to, which are clearly frozen a few frames AFTER the ball is kicked, only show that it WAS a bad call. Who do you think you're kidding?
But it doesn't take anything away from the Gators, who had a great year, as usual. This Cyclone fan wishes you guys continued success next year.
-Cy
By , at
Tue Jan 03, 12:02:00 AM:
P.S. I have TiVo, too, and my analysis of the play is the opposite of yours.
-Cy
By John Stansbury, at
Tue Jan 03, 02:35:00 AM:
saying that officiating in college football, or even the entire college football establishment, is anything more than the WWE with pads and helmet stickers is a huge mistake. after watching a couple of games this year, I found I could accurately figure out who was going to win, and by how much (the spread) by the second quarter.
I thought the refs were incompetent up 'til this year. now I know they know exactly what they're doing.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Tue Jan 03, 10:15:00 AM:
Screwy, I was ROTFLMAO when I read your comment. In an alternate universe, the bad calls went against the Gators, and you are blaming it all on GWB.
By , at
Wed Jan 04, 08:53:00 PM:
The C-USA crew calling the game was incompetent. I have no idea how they got assigned to a big bowl game. At best, C-USA is a mid-major conference in football.
Anyone who's ever watched a football game knows that offsides on the kickoff is tough to call. One of those things, like holding, that may happen on every play. A penalty has to be egregious, or totally obvious, to be called. You just don't throw the flag in that situation. Anyway, Greenway looked to be close, but behind the line.
By , at
Thu Jan 05, 04:44:00 PM:
I am a die hard Hawkeye fan, however it does not take a die hard fan to see that Iowa was, in every way, screwed out of an honest chance to win this game. If you keep up with the news, the NCAA has now uncovered that not only were there 5 calls against the Hawks that were unjustified, but on every offensive play Florida had the refs spotted them 6inches to a yard, yes on almost every play. Not only are the refs being investigated but so are the Gators. It was a sad day to be a Hawkeye fan, because we got screwed, however it was even a worse day to be a Gator, because without the refs on your side (in on your plan), Iowa wins this game. And I dont mean with an onside kick, if the game was officiated correctly it would not have been that close, thanks
The Hawk
By , at
Sun Dec 24, 04:42:00 PM:
I agree with everyone here, Iowa got screwed by most likely the worst officiating i've ever seen. This should not have happened and it ruined their chance to win that game. And might i add, there was more than one bad call...makes me think these refs were calling it..
just my 2 cents
