Head Ref, SEC Homer...
- Thread starter lazydave841
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There is no "conspiracy." It's an ordinary psychological phenomenon called bias that influences snap judgments at critical times.
Bias is a fact of life and human nature...and of all sports, college football especially lends itself to it.
There's been a pretty unmistakable pattern of bias in this conference. We don't see it in every game, but I can't think of a single season where there weren't instances of it working against us.
Bias is a fact of life and human nature...and of all sports, college football especially lends itself to it.
There's been a pretty unmistakable pattern of bias in this conference. We don't see it in every game, but I can't think of a single season where there weren't instances of it working against us.
I don’t think there’s any conspiracy by any officials in any conference, but there is a bias and all officials have them, it’s human nature. There’s a bias toward certain teams, certain players, and certain coaches as well as a bias against. You don’t think some MLB umpires gave Barry Bonds the benefit of the doubt on a close third strike call figuring Bonds has a good eye and would have swung if it was a strike? It happens all the time especially if you’re using referees that are from the state the team that’s playing is from. If I officiated a PSU game, I guarantee I would see it differently than another ref who was from Ohio (for example). I think there is a big time bias against PSU in the conference, but it’s not as bad as it was before a few of the worst offenders retired and now spend more time in their Michigan rooms or their OSU rooms.
You beat me to it…that’s why there has never been a seriously bad call that has cost OSU a game. PSU has had a bunch…the law of averages doesn’t support that without some explanation other than “refs miss some calls”.
Honig is from Ann Arbor, attended school in Ann Arbor, coached in Ann Arbor, and owns a store that sells UM memorabilia. And to this very day he's apparently still reffing as a replay official for the Big 10 and for UM games.
The poor b@$tård. That sounds miserable. Hopefully more misery lies in his future WRT Michigan football.
I don't think anyone has said that there is a conference wide conspiracy. You're making it up. There are a few guys that have proven to be biased and they've been named in this thread. It's only a small % of officials, but their efforts stand out in a few games. Also, some refs are like some cops. They revel in their position of authority and resent anyone challenging that authority.
Imagine that…I am surprised he did not have an Auburn shirt on.
Are you sure that he does UM games as a replay official? I don’t believe he does, but would be interested in knowing if I’m wrong.
My cousin in Georgia is a sideline clock man for the Georgia Bulldogs home games and he was asking me about the botched downs call as well as the intentional grounding call/non call. He felt we should have had no penalty and Auburn should have ( he was also a former ref). He also knows the head ref and umpire from doing Georgia home games but did not comment any further on them. Maybe he will if they screw over the Bulldogs!
Fair enough, I don't know exactly which games he's been assigned to but didn't ref UM games back when he was on the field? If that was allowed I don't know why they wouldn't also let him do replay for UM games but I'm generally not one to look these things up, I typically only see the crew on the field and know some of their associations from other posts on BWI. I did wiki Honig this morning though. I didn't even realize he was still in the replay booth until today. Personally I don't think he should be allowed to ref anything in the conference given that he has obvious ties to one school and is likely to be biased, whether intentional or not.
And to be honest.. the SEC loyalists hate SEC refs as well… there were a few bad calls for both sides.. the one gregarious screw up.. was not one official had the correct down in the 3rd-4th down debacle.. that’s just really bad…of course of all the calls.. the intentional grounding on Clifford would be yhe one where I would suggest “ Home SEC Officiating” bias.,that one was truly amazing…
I don’t know if he actually officiated Michigan games…can’t find anything online about it other than BWI posts complaining that he did.
I agree that the worst "call" was the grounding. The second worst call was the targeting. The roughing, and the noncalls on the interference somewhere after that in that you "could have" called them either way. Then finally, the various stupid little things like ball spots, which i chalk up to game management/pace.
But what of the down issue, you ask? Not really much of a "call," but I honestly am having a hard time recalling something more pigheaded in my life, in any context. Obviously the guy in the booth was on nacho duty (or here, perhaps onion dip duty), and was literally just making shit up and flat out too damn lazy to check.
My memory may be failing but I remember Joe talking about officiating crews in games between different conferences. One way was to use a split crew with officials from each conference. He didn't like this approach since it was possible that the officials would compete with each other to control the game. He preferred what you saw Saturday I'm guessing that when we play in Auburn the Big Ten will provide the officials and the replay official will be SEC.
If our two targeting calls in the previous games were targeting, then the one in the Auburn game was definitely targeting.
psu won. At this point I’d save auburn ref griping until after the game next year when we will likely get screwed by the Big Ten officials…😎😎
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Agreed, I think we’ve made our opinions clear on the SEC officiating Saturday, as has everyone else. Time to move on….we better not overlook Villanova like we did Ball State…what a disaster that was.
I’d like to know who the Big Ten ref was in the replay box that agreed it was 4th down.
Marshall good summary and I can agree with much of what you have said. At one point in my life I was under the belief that people in positions of power and influence operate above the fray and don't allow their ego and biases influence what is right and wrong. Time and time again this belief has been proven wrong. Integrity and honesty are hard to come by these days. I am certain the SEC power brokers are not happy when their product loses out of conference games and realize this could equate to the loss of millions of dollars for the SEC (ie: bowl games and CFB Championship). My point is, corruption and wrong doing is everywhere including college football. Have a good evening. We Are...
There is a difference between fix and bias. Bias can be built in an unknowing way and it can influence outcomes and results.
I think the year when Honig retired he was doing a Michigan game and they honored him with gifts. Anyone else recall that? Maybe it was kickbacks!
Actually, I found this…
Beyond Football: The life of a Big 10 football official
Football officials are in a tough position. They can only please half the people half the time. Coaches, players, and fans direct their frustration at them and use them as an excuse for losing. When they make a mistake, thousands...
A. Not really. It's more the importance of the game than the size of the crowd that creates the pressure. Looking back, I shouldn't have been assigned those three games at Michigan Stadium since I played and coached here. I'm not sure why it happened. It's obviously not a good situation because It would be too easy for opponents to expect that I would favor Michigan. I requested the Big Ten to not assign me to any more Michigan games, either home or away. But I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work here just the same.
It absolutely was targeting as the receiver was entitled protection under the "Defenseless Player" Rule, 9-1-4, as he was in act of catching ball when defensive contact was first initiated. Rule 9-1-4 forbids any "forcible contact" to the "head, neck or shoulder area" with any part of the Defender's body. Anybody who can watch that contact by second defender in and say it isn't a clear violation of Rule 9-1-4 is either blind, a liar or an ignorant ass (making definitive statements about a rule he knows nothing about).
i do remember such an event, but it was not Honig. My recollection (spotty, I admit) is that it was in the 1993-95 time frame, and the ref was that round-faced guy who looked like Spanky.
oh, and don’t forget the retired Big Ten ref who stated that both Woody and Bo had veto power over the refs assigned to The Game. Think any other conference coach had such a vote?
That quote would suggest that the "non-conspiracy" (ahem, are you listening @marshall23 ) originated and was/is perpetuated at the conference level.Actually, I found this…
Beyond Football: The life of a Big 10 football official
Football officials are in a tough position. They can only please half the people half the time. Coaches, players, and fans direct their frustration at them and use them as an excuse for losing. When they make a mistake, thousands...www.mlive.com
A. Not really. It's more the importance of the game than the size of the crowd that creates the pressure. Looking back, I shouldn't have been assigned those three games at Michigan Stadium since I played and coached here. I'm not sure why it happened. It's obviously not a good situation because It would be too easy for opponents to expect that I would favor Michigan. I requested the Big Ten to not assign me to any more Michigan games, either home or away. But I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work here just the same.
I was thinking the same thing....What's next? The Big 10 refs live in the north?
Feels like 20 to 1 live in Michigan/Ohio to Pennsylvania though.
And half our PA contingent lives in Pittsburgh. 🤷♂️😂
For a conference where it allegedly “just means more”, it certainly doesn’t in terms of finding competent officials. 😎
The fact that you don't know something isn't especially surprising, since you constantly indicate by all of your comments that you don't know ANYTHING about anything!!!
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