I'll end that competition right now. Penn Wagers. There may not be a better named bad ref in all of sport.
Who beat who now or in the past doesn't matter for Friday. I think these are two great teams that will play a great game. Best execution wins, period!:milesmic:
Penn Wagers, not bad. I'll have to raise you an official whose blind in one eye. Of course if SEC officiating is headquartered in the Big Sleazy you may have a point.
I can vouch that the Big 10 officials are awful, having lived in Big 10 land for a couple years. I remember the Ohio State-Illinois game where Illinois ended up winning ..I think 07. There was an awful call in the 1st half. SEC officials have stepped it up in recent years in bad calls and probably have more momentum right now but we'll see...the Big 10 officials have this bowl season to show the world what they're all about :thumb:
Welcome Penn State posters. As far as SEC officiating goes... One of my customers is a big 12 referee and we have had several talks about what goes on in the SEC. He actually used to be an SEC ref for several years and tells me that switching to the big 12 was the best thing he ever did because of the way that The SEC operates. Basically, it's a good ole boy system...you get your job because of who you know and once you get it...you're protected. It's all about not making the refs look bad no matter what. That's why there's NO independent grading or review of the refs in the SEC (Unlike almost every other conference). He says we have people in the SEC who are poor high school refs. Here's a copy of a post (and a link to the thread) about one of our conversations after the Alabama game this year from a good eats forum thread where I talk about some of my interesting and famous customers. (Rich Mauti is one of them but I haven't posted about him): http://www.tigerforums.com/good-eats/84243-guess-who-ate-abita-springs-cafe-today.html Talk about timing, talk about coincidence. At a time when I'm scratching my head wondering about what's wrong with SEC officiating...not being able to shake off the loss to Bama...in comes a customer of mine who lives in Abita and he's wearing a Texas Tech shirt. Last time he was wearing a Texas A&M shirt so I asked him what gives? He said that he went to neither school but has a lot of shirts from the big 12 because... he's a Big 12 football ref !!! Last week he refereed the Iowa game and this week he said he was assigned the OU-Texas A&M game. When he was driving to the airport to fly home to Abita, even in Iowa, all that was on the radio was the blown calls in the LSU-Alabama game and how bad the officiating was. He said, "I heard they have problems." He was loathe to offer much of an opinion other than that. So we talked about what they do in the Big 12. He said that every game is filmed and each week those films are sent to the NFL. They evaluate each and every play and grade out the refs. He said they were merciless in their grading. If they don't get good grades...they're suspended. When I asked him for how long he said "maybe one game, maybe indefinitely forever." He said sometimes they suspend the whole team. He also said teamwork in officiating is crucial. There are good and not so good teams, but regardless, if they don't perform at a high level or if they don't get better...they're gone. He explained the chain of reporting problems. Coach to AD to conference commissioner to supervisor of officials to the ref and the whole team. And no one wanted that to happen...because...you could be fired if it was found you messed up !!! He also told me that there are a bunch of other conferences that use the NFL system of evaluation to HOLD TEAMS OF OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE. I asked him if the SEC was one of those conferences....he said "No, they do their own thing over there."
interesting stuff. I think there is also quite an 'ole boy network with Big Ten officiating. Won't get into details, but I do think they should standardize officiating on a national level. The system in place right now is quite feudal, though some conferences are much better than others. Will be traveling so I probably won't have much opportunity to visit this board until after the game, so I'll take the opportunity now to say that it's been pleasure visiting your board and thanks for the hospitality. I'll be sure to stop by after the game win or lose.
You PSU guys are too funny. After that fluke pass for a td on your very first play, you got three point the rest of the game... only 150 yards of offense after the first quarter... at home. "Came down to a few plays"... hello. We're not a high scoring team, but the "few plays" you speak of are always Iowa's. You're 1-7 against Iowa this decade... that's a lotta "few plays", donchathink? I have total respect for JoePa and the PSU program. Unfortunately, this year you had two big games to test your mettle, both at home, and you got embarrassed twice. Damn good thing Wisconsin wasn't on your schedule. Let's face it, at least LSU made a game of their big tests. There's always a chance JoePa will have his team ready to play. There's a chance Clark will finally show up on the big stage in his final game. There's an equal (perhaps better) chance the hat will blow some call or play conservative. I guess anything could happen... but this is not one of JoePa's better teams. But, after the game, I bet we do hear "but for a few plays, PSU woulda won". .... that's the consistent part.
And this LSU team isn't one of the best teams in LSU history, either. But they are both still great teams. Instead of dogging Penn State, you should be proud that Iowa beat them. Makes Iowa look good.
lol... I am proud Iowa beat 'em.... now 7 out of 8... and each year it comes as a shock to PSU fans. If we beat GT, we'll have four top 10 finishes this decade... not sure that means we "usually suck".... unless we go back to the mid-90's... do you want to take that trip back down memory lane with me? ...didn't think so.
