Pac-12 Referees at it Again
Wow. That was the worst call of the season. Every Washington State fan should be infuriated. It is despicable what the Pac-12 referees and officials did to their team. While mistakes happen every game, this was without a doubt a horrible penalty. But, even worse, this poor call and what ensued after uncovered pure incompetency by the Pac-12 conference.
For those that missed it, here’s what happened:
Saturday (An Egregious Mistake)
- Down 20-11 in the third quarter, WSU’s Travell Harris returns kickoff to the 50-yard line.
- WSU penalized for illegal hands to the face. Football placed at WSU 8-yard line.
- Referee realizes he made an error. Because the penalty was against WSU, it should have been placed at Cal’s 35-yard line. The drive results in a field goal.
- WSU loses to Cal 20-33
Sunday (Incorrect Apology)
- First, the Pac-12 releases the above statement acknowledging “mechanics error”.
- In that statement, they claim that WSU was informed of the mistake “After the next play was run”.
- In punishment, the Pac-12 suspends referee for one game and crew is “downgraded”.
Tuesday (Where is No. 15???)
- Somehow, it’s unearthed that WSU’s “No. 15”, Armauni Archie, was not on the field during the kickoff. Even worse, Archie wasn’t even in the game!
- Instead, Cal’s No.15, Ben Moos committed the penalty on WSU’s No. 42, Halid Djibril.
Wednesday (6:38 of Game Clock)
- In review, the Pac-12 corrects its statement that they informed Washington State “after the next play was run.”
- After realizing his mistake, Matt Richards (referee) decided to wait until the next media break to inform Washington State. Their drive took up 6 minutes and 38 seconds of the game clock…
What this all means for Pac-12 refereeing
Among college football, the Pac-12 is not respected. It’s the ugly duckling of the Power Five. Because of mistakes like this, and other failures of Larry Scott, Pac-12 football is taunted.
For Pac-12 fans, it’s clear that Pac-12 referees are inconsistent and consistently make poor judgment calls. But, it’s one thing to make a mistake as an official. It’s an entirely other issue to have no measures to correct it.
Is this not 2019? Don’t we have booths, staff and video replay? The Pac-12 should utilize on-site and off-site video assistants to make sure that errors like this don’t happen. Honestly, it’s pathetic. Absolutely depressing. Football programs shouldn’t endure Pac-12 referee mistakes that ruin a game. We are better than this.
It’s about time that the Pac-12 owns up to its faults, corrects its mistakes and takes action for the future. Apologies aren’t enough.
What are the Worst Pac-12 Referee Mistakes?
If you remember an official error that is bigger than this one, comment below or Tweet at us!