For As Much Money the Big Ten Takes in, the Quality of Officiating is Embarrassingly Awful
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Officials reviewing yet another play on the field during Indiana's win over Georgia Southern Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written By Alex Compton and Sammy Jacobs
The Big Ten Conference makes mountains of money every year. In the 2014-15 athletic season the Big Ten brought in $108,498429 in revenue according to an article in the USAToday. Business is great for the Big Ten and its member schools. However, there is one aspect that is a black eye for the conference and turning some fans off, especially in football. That black eye is the quality of officials. For an entity that rakes in that kind of cash, it is difficult to believe that they cannot find competent officials. Over the last couple of weeks and for the better part of four decades Indiana football coaches, players and fans have had to deal with hundreds of head scratching calls that seem to come out of "bizzaro" world.
Without getting into every single poor call in the history of IU football (please share your favorites in the comment section) we wanted to point out that the Big Ten just flat out needs to be better about officiating. So here are some examples over the last two weeks when Indiana played top-25 teams Michigan and Michigan State:
Inconsistent Pass Interference Calls
Yes, IU is aggressive on defense. Yes, the refs still do not call the game evenly for both sides. For years and years, when IU is in a close game with a "superior" team, it seems the refs come barging in to change that as quickly as possible. It's almost like the conference holds IU down and says "you have basketball, just deal with this", as the perennial powers in the league profit off of our demise. The last two weeks have been prime examples of this, as games in which the Hoosiers played better than a ranked team were made even tougher to win as a result of the zebras. A perfect place to look is pass interference, which is a call that is pretty black-and-white no matter the situation.
Starting with the Michigan game, you can clearly see a theme emerge. UM defenders were allowed to play physical on the outside, but IU defenders had to play much more cautiously with the refs in mind. As IU began mounting their comeback against John O'Korn (who did not play well enough to earn any calls), Rashard Fant made a huge interception in the third quarter that gave IU all the momentum. It was of course overturned with a pass interference call from the line judge who really had a terrible angle on the play. As you can see from the gif, that call was just not consistent with the rule or even the way the game was being officiated. However, since IU made a big play and started to climb back, it was an easy call. I just don't see how that can be a flag, and the announcers and fans on Twitter were surely on my side as well.
One week later, the problem remained the same. IU could not get the same calls that MSU was getting, and I'm only talking about PI here. Simmie Cobbs got mugged pretty much the entire game with no consequence, but an uncatchable ball with no contact gets a flag for the Spartans as they were trailing in the game. In the gifs here, you'll see no contact from Fant on a ball about five yards out of bounds draw a flag, but a pass that Cobbs catches out of bounds while the DB shoves him and isn't even turned around gets nothing. It is this type of blatant inconsistency between IU and its opponents that infuriates IU and B1G fans week-to-week, and just leaves you scratching your head. Does the Big Ten have an agenda to keep IU down? Or is one of the most successful organizations in the country really that incompetent? Either way, fans deserve the answers that have been withheld from them for years and I think now is a good time to start giving them.
Calling a Penalty by Looking at Replays on the Big Board
One of the most frustrating calls to occur in Indiana's game at Michigan State was the horse collar infraction that occurred in the first quarter. While it was the correct call on the field, grabbing of the name plate on the jersey is now considered a horse collar, it took the officials several minutes and a few glances at the stadium big screen to finally make the call. While getting the call correct on the field is the ultimate goal, the referees cannot just call it because they saw a replay on the Michigan State scoreboard. If it had been a missed horse collar on an IU player I highly doubt MSU's replay technician would have put that up on the board. The bottom line is, that was an obvious horse collar penalty and they missed it.
Missed Holding Call
One of the biggest plays of the game game with Michigan State trailing Indiana 9-3 with 8:12 left in the game and the ball just across mid-field. Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke had just been sacked for a loss of nine yards and the Spartans were facing a third-and-19. As you can see below defensive lineman Robert McCray (47) breaks through the line and has a clear line for a sack when he is held, leading to MSU gaining 16 yards. On the next play MSU would pick up the first down and eventually score the go-ahead touchdown. Instead of facing a third-and-29 from the Michigan State 41, the Spartans were given new life. Yes, Indiana had a communications breakdown on the play that shouldn't have happened, however this was a blatant missed call right in front of two officials.
An Uncalled Hit on a Defenseless Player or Targeting after the Ball Carrier is Out of Bounds
Player safety has been the cloak which the targeting penalty hides under when it comes under scrutiny. Last Saturday the referees at the Indiana-Michigan State game missed a targeting penalty that should have been called when MSU running back L.J. Scott crushed IU DL Jerome Johnson on a peel-back block while the runner, Brian Lewerke (14) was already out of bounds. While it didn't put points on the board for the Spartans, this play, which the powers that be want eliminated from the game, helped flip the field.
Throat Punches are Cool Now?
Another play that was called to our attention occurred when Indiana running back Morgan Ellison was handed the ball on third-and-goal. He was stopped short of the first down, however it looks as if he is punched in the throat by an MSU defender. Apparently the Spartans were doing this on multiple occasions. A flag there would have resulted in the Hoosiers have a first-and-goal from the three-yard line. Who knows how it would have turned out, but Indiana was robbed of that opportunity because of a missed call.
At the press conference the Monday after Indiana's 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan, Hoosier head coach Tom Allen addressed how he was handling the situation with the on-field officiating. "We've had good discussions" he said, "very professional and handled it the right way, and just face it head-on, and that's what we've done. That's my approach, and I feel good about the way we've handled it." Allen also said after the Michigan game that those calls needed to be earned, which shouldn't be the case if this is indeed a fair playing field. However, if the Big Ten doesn't not address the ridiculousness that has become of the officiating situation during Indiana games, IU will either just have to put its head down and play against a stacked deck or bring this clear lack of quality officiating into the light. For now though, Indiana just has to make the plays that they can make if they are allowed to make them.
Indiana has had their share of opportunities where they could have put a team away and needs to make a play, but the referees have clearly been characteristically unkind to the Hoosiers in big spots against the big boys in the Big Ten. The fact that a billion dollar entity has officiating on par with intramural leagues is embarrassing and is a major black eye on an otherwise great product. I don't know the solution to this problem, but it is time for the powers that be in the Big Ten to realize there is one and take proper action. It's hard to believe that with all the money the Big Ten rakes in, that they cannot hire full-time officials and train them properly.