OU vs. Oregon

[Dr. Cornelius]

Not really a Sooner fan, but they truly were cheated.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PcT4EqOXfSM&mode=related&search=

[ORUTerry]

Somebody call the cops.... Oklahoma was robbed. That onside kick was totally botched by the refs. So much in fact that you could almost start to believe that a fix was in place. Three mistakes: (1) the Oregon kid obviously touched the ball before it had gone 10 yards - that would have 'killed' the ball right there and given it to Oklahoma. (2) The Oregon kid who touched the ball first also pushed the Oklahoma player who was trying to catch the ball. This is an automatic infraction; the receiving team has the right to catch the ball, unimpeded - like a fair catch with a punt, before the ball travels 10 yards. This is what Bob Stoops was yelling about. (3) The most devastating fact is that OU actually recovered the ball. ESPN (who gets an F for coverage) never ran the play all the way through in replay. Watch at the end of the video and you will notice that #23 from Oklahoma recovers the bouncing ball. How in the world did the refs award the ball to Oregon if no one in that pile ever had the ball?

Simply the most atrociously called play (especially with a REPLAY) I have ever seen....

[tmh8286]

Here's all that the Eugene Register-Guard had to say about the play:

"Dixon completed three passes on the drive to Jaison Williams, who caught nine balls for 177 yards and a touchdown on the day. The Ducks recovered the ensuing onside kick, and Dixon found Jonathan Stewart for a 25-yard gain."

No mention of the controversy.

The Portland Oregonian at least acknowledged the questionable call:

"It was the first victory for Oregon (3-0) in seven tries against Oklahoma (2-1), but revenge took a backseat to the drama of those final few minutes: The Ducks scored two touchdowns, sandwiched around a successful, if controversial, onside kick, and blocked a field goal as time expired . . .

. . . Then Luke Bellotti, the coach's son, came on for an onside kick. Bellotti hit it perfectly, the ball bouncing high into the air and coming down near the 45-yard line. Oregon's Brian Paysinger touched it, and Patrick Chung recovered. After the play was reviewed and upheld, the crowd of 59,269 was back into it, full force."

"I knew I had it, but at the same time, they could have easily overruled it," Chung said. "I didn't know what to think."

No, Patrick, you really DIDN'T have it, and you knew exactly what to think.  TOUCHED IT, yes, HAD IT, no!

[tmh8286]

(3) The most devastating fact is that OU actually recovered the ball. ESPN (who gets an F for coverage) never ran the play all the way through in replay.

Actually, Terry, at one point on the replay (at about the 3:15 mark) you see the ref roll the Oregon player that was supposed to have recovered the ball over and . . . it's not there!  Magic, I guess. 

[ORU_Fan]

People from Oregon are evil  ..... and they cheat too!   

[tmh8286]

People from Oregon are evil    ..... and they cheat too!     

Now wait just a minute ORU_Fan, let's not be TOO sweeping with our generalizations there!

[ORUTerry]

Maybe he knows someone from Oregon.... 

[Gold*]

That call makes me sick to my stomach.  Unbelievable.  If you rule that Oregon has possession, wouldn't you at least wait to see if someone with a green helmet had the ball?  OU only lost two spots in the polls.

[tmh8286]

Maybe he knows someone from Oregon.... 

I know some Oregonians pretty well myself.

[tmh8286]

That call makes me sick to my stomach.  Unbelievable.  If you rule that Oregon has possession, wouldn't you at least wait to see if someone with a green helmet had the ball?  OU only lost two spots in the polls.

That was about as egregious group of blunders by an officiating team as we may see all season.  You have to wonder what those guys were thinking about the job they did by Sunday morning.

Hey Gold*, I was at the game cheering on the Golden Hurricane Sat. night (but don't tell any of my ORU buddies) - were you there?  There was a really good crowd at the game.

[Guest Blevins]

All you Sooner fans quit whining. OU lost because of 510 yards allowed, three field goals on 1st and goal inside the 10, a penalty on a touchdown pass and because they couldn't keep Oregon out of the end zone when it mattered most.

Sure the refs botched the call, but they didn't have ANYTHING to do with blocking a field goal, did they?

[tmh8286]

I'm no particular OU fan, Blevins, and attended Oregon for 2 1/2 years, so I was conflicted during this game.  But I DO have a strong sense of justice, and what happened to the Sooners wasn't just.

I've heard today that Boren has asked for the Big 12 to get involved in getting the game nullified, and the Pac 10 is reviewing the video and will have a statement tomorrow.  Should be enough mileage left in this story to keep the radio talk shows going the rest of the week.

I disagree with you, though - their victory might have been PADDED by better stats, but they lost the game because of bungled officiating.

[tmh8286]

OU president wants game voided, officials suspended

NORMAN, Okla. -- University of Oklahoma president David Boren sent a letter to Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg on Monday, asking him to push for the Sooners' game against Oregon to be eliminated from the record books and have the Pac-10 officials involved in the game suspended for the remainder of the season.

Two plays were reviewed on Oregon's game-winning drive -- an onside kick that gave the Ducks possession and a pass interference call one play before the touchdown that gave them a 34-33 victory.

"To describe the lapses in accurate officiating at the Oklahoma-Oregon football game last Saturday as constituting an outrageous injustice is an understatement," Boren wrote in the letter dated Monday.

Read more here.

[ORUTerry]

I am definitely not an Oklahoma fan.... but that call was wrong. I know that Oklahoma could have made it a moot point if they had played better defense or scored touchdowns when they were near the goal line. But the fundamental point is that if the on-side play is call correctly by the referees or replay official, the Sooners would have definitely won the game. It is this fundamental fact that is disturbing - the officials altered the result of the game.

Now, I know they do that all the time. But this was a high profile play that was replayed - with the ability to correct the on-the-field mistake by the referees. I could understand the situation if it was not a play that was reviewed. The inept actions by the officials is incomprehensible. In fact, I think the only true answer for how the call was blown is that the official on the field misunderstood what the replay official told him.

The question that has not been answered, is how does the referee make a determination about who held possession of the ball if the ball was never found in the pile of players they were examining? The only answer is that, like most Mid-Con Refs, they made it up.

[tmh8286]

Pac-10 suspends officials for errors that cost OklahomaESPN.com news services

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Pacific-10 Conference suspended for one game the officiating crew and the instant replay officials that worked Saturday's Oklahoma-Oregon football game after finding mistakes were made in calls near the end of the contest.

Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said Monday that a review by conference officials of video of the game revealed that both the instant replay officials and the game officials assigned by the conference made errors in the final minute and 12 seconds of the game.

Oklahoma lost the game 34-33 after Oregon scored two touchdowns near the end of the game.

An onside kick by Oregon after its first late touchdown was touched by a Ducks player before it traveled the required 10 yards, and the Pac-10 ruled that the ball should have been awarded to Oklahoma. The league also said that video revealed that an Oklahoma player actually recovered the ball.

Officials on the field gave the ball to Oregon, and replay officials did not overturn that decision.

During a subsequent play, pass interference was called on Oklahoma, setting up the winning score. The Sooners argued that the ball had been tipped at the line of scrimmage, thereby nullifying the pass interference call.

Replay officials did not see indisputable evidence to overturn the penalty.

"The fact that the errors on the onside kick altered the outcome of the game is most unfortunate and unsettling," Hansen said in a statement. "We had a solid veteran crew assigned, and the instant replay official had a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10. We believe in the ability and integrity of each individual involved. It should be noted that not all of the seven officials were directly involved in the play in question, but the entire crew bears responsibility for every play. Game officials and replay officials have positions of great responsibility and must be accountable for their actions.

"Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, coach Bob Stoops and his players. They played an outstanding college football game, as did Oregon, and it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating."

Read the rest of the article here.

Can someone that is more of a sports enthusiast than me tell me, is an apology for bad officiating unprecedented?  I've never heard of it before.

[ORUTerry]

http://behindducksbeat.blogs.oregonlive.com/default.asp?item=184311

Interesting article.... not so much the story - though it is unique to see an opponent recognize a referee's mistake. It is the misuse of the word "role" when the author meant to say "roll". How did the editor miss that? I suspect that spell checker strikes again. It's spelled right but it is the wrong word. These guys are professionals?

excerpt

Look. Every game in history has its share of questionable calls. You role with them. That's life. And every team makes plays and doesn't make plays. You role with that.

[MadAdder]

I'll be honest and flat-out say that I don't like OU, ever since they beat my Noles in the Orange Bowl in what, 2001 I think?

That said, they definitely got cheated and should've won that game over Oregon. I cannot believe the refs blew the onside kick call. I could see them getting the Pass Interference call wrong (it was an easy call, but probably not as easy as the onside kick one).

I hope this doesn't destroy OU's chances of making a run at the national title.

[vcboy2000]

The problem with having the game nixed off the records is that every time a faulty call is made in any game it will have to be evaluated to determine if the call altered the outcome. Every coach, AD and university president will be arguing for their game to be nixed. Whose to say that if OU was awarded the ball Paul Thompson wouldn't have fumbled the snap creating another opportunity for the Ducks to win. OU got robbed. No question about it. However, the NCAA does not want to open up the can of worms of nixing games off of the records because of faulty calls.