I've resisted dropping a line about Oklahoma's response to the controversial calls in their recent game against Oregon, but if Bobby Knight is going to weigh in, well, so am I.
The moment I saw Oregon recover the now-famous onside kick on Saturday, I had a very sure feeling the play wouldn't stand. That it couldn't stand. The way those hideous green uniforms with the scaly shoulders were crashing into Sooner players, you just knew they'd violated more than a few rules. Confusion reigned supreme on the field (and in the replay booth, apparently) as ABC ran the footage time and time again. For the viewers, it was obvious. Great news for Sooners fans and heartbreak for the Ducks - this call was going to be overturned. Clearly, an Oregon player touched the ball before it went 10 yards (in violation of the rules). Another Oregon player smashed into a Sooner before 10 yards (another violation). And it even appeared that an Oklahoma player actually wound up recovering the loose pigskin.
All of this was clear ... yet somehow, someway, the call on the field stood. Oregon ball. Even though I'm a Pac-10 guy and was rooting for Oregon in this game, I couldn't help but feel sick. This isn't the way you are supposed to win a game (although, in fairness to Oregon, they didn't actually win it on that play - they proceeded to make other plays, score the winning points, and then block the final field goal attempt).
This situation was awful. It called to mind Colorado's famous "Fifth Down" and the 1985 World Series and about 90 percent of last year's NFL playoffs. Other than ABC's Dan Fouts (who played at Oregon, it should probably be noted), you couldn't find anyone with a microphone who thought things turned fair or just or correct. And even Fouts just sort of ignored the whole thing.
The consensus: 1) it was awful that officiating impacted the game, and 2) we might need to take a look at the replay system.
Not once did I hear an analyst wonder out loud (or in print) whether the game should be erased from the record books. Or whether Oklahoma should void a contractual obligation to another Pac-10 school (Washington) because they no longer liked the rules that the conference uses (and they are admittedly kind of strange rules). Had someone proffered those solutions, I would have groaned in agony and chalked it up to another talking head trying to get a rise by saying the most controversial thing possible.
So you can imagine my absolute and utter shock when Oklahoma's president, David Boren, made the suggestion that the game shouldn't count. Scratch that, when he made that written request. This guy is the president of a major state university and he's spending his time pleading with Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg to protest the outcome of the game. Incredibly, he came right out and asked for a football game to be erased from the record books.
Article comments
1 - Nick
The PAC-10 has been exposed for biased officiating. That really stings the PAC-10 folks who have been complaining for years about lack of respect. Now the PAC-10 folks are mad because their little officiating advantage has been exposed.
The Pac-10 teams are 15-1 in non conference games using their own conference's officials, and 3-6 in those in which they didn't.
How does the PAC-10 deal with the embarrassment? Admit they need to correct a one-way officiating policy? Never! When guilty immediately, go on the attack. Attack every action any and everything associated with the Sooners.
It is the PAC-10's integrity and whining that is being exposed.
2 - Adam Hoff
Not sure to whom your are directing your comments. I never defended the Pac-10 in the post, or really commented on the conference one way or the other (other than a few asides which hinted at it being a bad rule). So I'm not sure why you charged down that path, unless it was just because it tangentially related to my post, which was about the University of Oklahoma's lack of sportsmanship. If you simply needed someplace to post your thoughts, more power to you. I'm just not sure who the "PAC-10 folks" are, or if you are trying to insinuate that I am one of them.
Also, to cite win-loss records as some sort of evidence that the refs are somehow winning games for the conference is completely ridiculous. Those are home games and while the use of Pac-10 referees is (now famously) known to be one element of a non-conference home game, I hope you realize that there are dozens of reasons why playing at home is advantagous. There may very well be a correlation between the refs and the results, but it is an enormous stretch to assert that as a primary cause and effect.
Also, what Pac-10 school, administrator, or official is attacking Oklahoma? Honestly, what are you talking about?