Recap of the Pac-12 Referee Debacle during WSU vs Cal

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)

Tough night: a Cal penalty was incorrectly called against WSU. Have word that Harris’ qtr3 KR hands-to-face flag was actually supposed to be against Cal; incorrectly announced against WSU. Plays ran so it couldn’t be rectified. Ball should’ve been at Cal 33; was put at WSU 8

— Matt Chazanow (@M_Chaz) November 10, 2019

• 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!