Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Michigan Tuesday: Big Ten Officials Baby Steps

From Wikipedia:  "Napoleon complex" is a theorized inferiority complex normally attributed to people of short stature. It is characterized by overly-aggressive or domineering social behavior, such as lying about earnings, and carries the implication that such behavior is compensatory for the subject's physical or social shortcomings. In psychology, the Napoleon complex is regarded as a derogatory social stereotype.[1]

In a game played by young giants, the stain on the Big Ten for years has been the lack of common sense and little ability to do their job effectively by its on field officials.   These men and women have too much power during a game and their decisions have lead to people losing their jobs and the difference between wins and losses.   The offending officials love to be on TV and love to embark their power for 3-4 hours every Saturday.   

I'm sure every Big Ten team has felt the effects of bad officiating, but as Michigan fans we seem internalize it a lot more.   The issue is,  there doesn't seem to be any public review or confirmation for bad calls or suspensions for bad officiating.   PFF tracks each player's effectiveness on each play, why isn't there a service doing the same thing for officials?   How does the Big Ten rank a bad official over a good one?

These officials are reviewed in the dark but come to light and ruin football games.  In a rare moment of clarity the Big Ten office has admitted that there were mistakes made in the Michigan - MSU game, including the overturn of the strip sack for a TD by Michigan.  That decision changes the game and that mistake can't be made.   The replay and on field official should be suspended for at least one game for that mistake.    As they had plenty of chances to make the right call.  Yes, the PI on 4th down should have also been called, but to me that is not as bad as getting a reviewed call wrong. 

How do we fix this?  By making it public the review of game officials each week.   Making them available to the media for Q&A after a game.   These men and women can no longer have carte blanche over a game without some type of public review.  I agree this is the hardest job on the field but there has to be a way to understand bias and good vs. bad.    Does Ed O'Neil for example make more holding calls against Michigan then any other team?  We need to understand the officials performance, just like we do for any coach or player participating in the game. 

The Big Ten led the way with the Big Ten Channel, its now the time for them to do the same with referee review and making sure the bad ones are removed or punished for poor performance.  I also believe there should be a "sky judge" that can overturn mistakes by reviewing video live without review.  It will keep the game moving and save the fans from 100 less Fox commercials. 

At some point, a coach will remove his team from the field because of bad officiating.   Its only a matter of time.  Big Ten officials have to be better.


  • Nebraska decided to save $20M and will keep Scott Frost for another year.  Scott then fires his entire offensive coaches room.  OC, RB, QB, OL coaches all gone.   This also seems to mean they have thrown in the towel on this season. 
  • We of course did not get any update on Michigan's injuries from Jimmy on Monday. 
  • Michigan Basketball opens the season on Wednesday against Buffalo! 

3 comments:

szanreno said...

My change to this debacle would be to not let the crew on the field review their own work. Have a person in the box that does the reviews. I don't know that the TV broadcasters opinion really gets to the officials unless it's after the game?!?

Voice of Reason said...



Bob,

Well said. I think we all are are in agreement.

https://tenor.com/view/clapping-standing-ovation-wonderful-perfect-magnificent-gif-12829177

IMHO!!!

MichiganMan said...

We lost to a little brother not because of bad call, but bad plays...

Blue for Life..
Fire Garbagebugh and Don Brown...