I was rewatching the second half of the B1G title game (can't see it too many times) and once again, struck by the fact that the officiating was competent and fair to PSU.
The fourth quarter personal foul on the Wisky DL for unloading on McSorley after he had released the ball at the sideline -- it was a huge call that kept that last PSU drive alive and probably killed Wisconsin's hopes.
It was an obvious clear-cut roughing call. And it it was the kind of call that the B10 officials ignored for years and years.
The final pass-interference call on the safety trying to cover Hamilton, which set up the last FG. How many hundreds of times over the years of B1G play did we see that call not get made when PSU receivers were held?
Even the clock problem in the final seconds. In the past there would have been shenanigans to try to put enough time on the clock that PSU would be forced to punt. It seemed suspicious. But in the end they just added a single second to the game clock, so that Trace had to kill 3 seconds instead of 2.
In the two biggest wins against the toughest opponents last year, Penn State got to play on an even playing field -- the Big Ten was not taking sides.
And for me it drove home once again what a significant disadvantage it was for PSU, year after year, to have to overcome hostile midwest officials who saw PSU as a foreign invader.
Bad officiating really cost Paterno's teams dearly over the years vs not just MIchigan but Ohio State and Iowa -- probably cost Joe at least one other B1G title, and in 2008 cost him a chance at an undefeated season and playing for the national title.
But last year it was markedly different. I don't recall a single game where it felt like the officials were out to screw PSU. Maybe it was pity for PSU having gone through scandal and sanctions, maybe it was a sense that the league would benefit financially from a revived PSU program. Maybe the league officials hated Joe and like Franklin?
And I guess I'm wondering, will that continue this year? Is the B1G really no longer out to screw PSU? Has B1G officiating finally become a professional, impartial operation?
Now that PSU is revived, and threatening once again to be a force in the B1G, I guess I'm wondering, will the B1G try to put a lid on it this year? Yeah due to replay they can't pull the kind of tricks they pulled in the 90s and early 00s. They can't mess with spots anything like they could in the past, they can't award catches that aren't catches, they can't turn fumbles into incomplete passes.
But they can still ignore flagrant holding when a team needs a boost. They can still call some weird obscure penalties (roughing the snapper) at key times. They can look the other way for cheap shots. They can get careless in their clock administration to favor one side -- such as ignoring the play clock when they want someone to make a field goal.
I really don't know what to expect. What I do know is that it is a major factor in PSU's season. If they go another season without any B1G old boy screw jobs, that's a really big deal for this program.
The fourth quarter personal foul on the Wisky DL for unloading on McSorley after he had released the ball at the sideline -- it was a huge call that kept that last PSU drive alive and probably killed Wisconsin's hopes.
It was an obvious clear-cut roughing call. And it it was the kind of call that the B10 officials ignored for years and years.
The final pass-interference call on the safety trying to cover Hamilton, which set up the last FG. How many hundreds of times over the years of B1G play did we see that call not get made when PSU receivers were held?
Even the clock problem in the final seconds. In the past there would have been shenanigans to try to put enough time on the clock that PSU would be forced to punt. It seemed suspicious. But in the end they just added a single second to the game clock, so that Trace had to kill 3 seconds instead of 2.
In the two biggest wins against the toughest opponents last year, Penn State got to play on an even playing field -- the Big Ten was not taking sides.
And for me it drove home once again what a significant disadvantage it was for PSU, year after year, to have to overcome hostile midwest officials who saw PSU as a foreign invader.
Bad officiating really cost Paterno's teams dearly over the years vs not just MIchigan but Ohio State and Iowa -- probably cost Joe at least one other B1G title, and in 2008 cost him a chance at an undefeated season and playing for the national title.
But last year it was markedly different. I don't recall a single game where it felt like the officials were out to screw PSU. Maybe it was pity for PSU having gone through scandal and sanctions, maybe it was a sense that the league would benefit financially from a revived PSU program. Maybe the league officials hated Joe and like Franklin?
And I guess I'm wondering, will that continue this year? Is the B1G really no longer out to screw PSU? Has B1G officiating finally become a professional, impartial operation?
Now that PSU is revived, and threatening once again to be a force in the B1G, I guess I'm wondering, will the B1G try to put a lid on it this year? Yeah due to replay they can't pull the kind of tricks they pulled in the 90s and early 00s. They can't mess with spots anything like they could in the past, they can't award catches that aren't catches, they can't turn fumbles into incomplete passes.
But they can still ignore flagrant holding when a team needs a boost. They can still call some weird obscure penalties (roughing the snapper) at key times. They can look the other way for cheap shots. They can get careless in their clock administration to favor one side -- such as ignoring the play clock when they want someone to make a field goal.
I really don't know what to expect. What I do know is that it is a major factor in PSU's season. If they go another season without any B1G old boy screw jobs, that's a really big deal for this program.
