While the holding by the Oregon OL was constant and blatant, I'll give them those non-calls without complaining (to be fair and so nobody can claim I'm a homer). Let's call it the "let them play" rule. But there were multiple calls and non-calls which not only made no sense, they would appear to prove that "the fix was in" and I've NEVER suggested something like that publicly on a forum. I'm not sure about the personal foul on the kickoff because I didn't see the replay, but was there ANYTHING there to call? I think the most blatant and obvious call was the Evans catch that mysteriously was called back AFTER it was called a catch on the field and spotted as a first down with no apparent review. How/why can they arbitrarily pick up the ball and march backwards and call it an incomplete pass when the call on the field was a legal catch (and the replays obviously confirmed that it WAS a legal catch)? Then you have the 49 yard touchdown where Gabriel was close to the LOS (I personally don't think he crossed it, but don't know what the rule is when you're in the air when you release the ball and your feet land past the LOS), but you CLEARLY had an OL downfield and there is clearly a line judge who is watching it. I don't recall down and distance on that play and perhaps Oregon would have still scored, but an obvious penalty and loss of down at midfield would have clearly benefitted PSU. Then you had the VERY obvious push off by their Tight end on 4th and 2. Obviously if it was called, that could have changed the outcome. Finally, you have the "fair catch". The replay seems to show the PSU receiver making an adjustment to the ball in the air and he waves his hand to keep his balance. His hand never went above the shoulder pads and even if it was close, the play should have been called dead and PSU should have been flagged for trying to return the ball. Obviously neither of those things happened. You have one ref who is watching the receiver and has been tasked with determining if a fair catch was called and he never whistled the play dead, nor did any of the other officials until after he was 30 yards downfield and out of bounds. They called that back because the Oregon HC complained and for no other reason at all. You also have the dead ball call where Allar was getting mugged well after several whistles were blown. On this one, again, I'll give you the "let them play" rule, but nobody would have thought a personal foul call there was unjustified. And even with all of these patently obvious calls/non-calls, I don't remember one very obvious penalty that PSU got away with or even one ticky tacky call that went against Oregon.
Anyone who claims that PSU benefitted as much as Oregon from the officiating has their heads up their butts and like many other posters on this thread, I don't complain about these things week in and week out.
