This reminds me of a story I'm not sure I've shared here or not. It was about 2-3 weeks before the season kicked off this year and I was sitting in the studio of a local afternoon sports talk show. It just so happens they had Penn in the studio that day to discuss some of the rule changes from the '06-'07 season. He remarked in an almost surreal type attitude that his crew had had very few calls reversed since the instant replay rule went in to effect. The producer of the show glanced in my direction and shook his head...basically, a quick "don't comment" type of instruction. First game of the season, their first game, 4 or 5 calls reversed. Heck, two of them were in the first quarter alone. Why they are still calling games in our conference...I couldn't tell you! Penn just needs to stick with his real job. He's pretty damn good at that one.
You said a mouthful there brother. Like I have said before, the SEC is the best conference in every way except officiating. It's last in officiating.
Don't know about that. Any league employing an official who lets a guy run a punt return back for a TD after calling for a fair catch is pretty bad, too. See Big East. College football officiating is poor across the board. We see more SEC games than others, so it's natural to think we're the worst. But it sucks everywhere.
That is very true, but I have to wonder how many different conferences can point to one crew in particular and mention example after example of how they have missed calls? We do have a few crews in the SEC that do a pretty good job, IMO. Rogers Reddings' crew seems to be one of them.
Maybe they decided to put all the bad refs on the same crew so they can only screw up one game?:hihi: Question ... are the replay officials part of the crew? I'm still looking for conclusive proof that dude touched the ball last night.
A few observations on Texas/Az. State. Az. State had no answer for RB Jamaal Charles. If he gets a little stronger and a little bigger, he's gonna have the NFL scouts drooling. The guy has got some speed. Texas defense has been pitiful all year. I fully expected Az. State to throw for about 1,000 yards on them. They played more agressively last nite than I've seen them all year. UT QB Colt McCoy is a pretty tough guy. Az. State had no plan to handle his running. The young UT QB showed some really good speed. Az. State looked slow. UT has some super athletes. Coaches haven't gotten them to perform near to their potential. UT's defensive coordinator Akina, on the hotseat all season, probably saved his job last nite. Hard to imagine that Az. State was considered to be in the hunt for the national championship late into the season. They got bitchslapped by the Big 12's 4th best team. Wasn't Az. State co-champ of the conference ? What a pitiful representative of their league. If I had been the guy who was ruled to have touched the ball, I'd have slipped into the locker room, changed my clothes, put on some Az. State colors and got a cab back to the hotel.
I completely agree. Texas looked really good. 50+ points against a team that went 10-2 is pretty impressive.
I don't know if they are considered an official part of the crew. It would seem logical, but it is one of those things I don't see published every week like the names of the crew are. Wagers is one of those refs that as soon as I see him on the field I stop surfing with expectations of "how will they screw this one up?" If I didn't know him personally, I would swear he wants to be a part of the game. He really is a nice guy off the field...pretty knowledgeable when it comes to how the rule book reads. Unfortunately, knowledge doesn't always translate to results. There is a "blue" that lives pretty close to me as well. I've seen him lose his top a few times on the diamond. But, he's one of those guys with a Napoleon complex in everything he does. If you follow the baseball teams in the SEC I'm sure you've seen him a few times.
