Official zebra complaint thread

[LansingCat_rivals315357]

We're getting jobs by the officials yet again.

1. Questionable call taking away Lowery sack.

2. Missed fair catch signal.

3. Missed the targeting call on CT's 3rd down run

It seems we have to beat the other team and the officials

 

[FLCat07]

Missed hands to Thorson's face mask on the play that got him injured

 

[CommodoresAndCats]

It's been a pretty bad job

 

[beetlemania74]

Looked like a missed face mask call on tackle of JJ.

 

[EasternBlocCat]

The play before the horrible Lowry roughing call, Hackenberg threw a screen pass that absolutely was a lateral that the refs blew dead. Gibson (I think) alertly picked it up and would have had a clear path to the end zone. Somehow the commentators missed it too...

 

[aquacat]

The cats look like they've been the better team but the refs have protected hackenburf yet not CT. If we lose, the refs gave penn state about 2-3 extra possessions.

 

[CatsUnderStars]

The holding call on dickerson was BS. his hands were inside the pads

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

The holding call on dickerson was BS. his hands were inside the pads

Doesn't mean it can't be holding. You've got to release if the defender tries to separate like that.

 

[CatsUnderStars]

it is rarely called when the hands are inside the pads. It's exactly what every receiver is taught.

 

[eastbaycat99]

I'll nominate the missed hold on the Barkley run for 23 on 3rd and 13 with 10 minutes to go as another OMG I can't believe they are watching the same game I am.

 

[corbi2961]

The chop block call on us in the second half was a joke. They missed a blatant blow to the head against Thorson that was way worse than either of the personal foul calls they called against us for hitting Hackenberg late. Lots of obvious mistakes.

 

[Gladeskat]

it is rarely called when the hands are inside the pads. It's exactly what every receiver is taught.

If you don't release and are obviously constrained no matter where your hands are, the refs will call it

 

[Fanaticat98]

Look forward to actually watching this game. Sounds like the refs really made some dubious calls and non calls in critical situations to extend PSU drives, kill our drives etc. I am glad we were able to overcome it as it would've really hurt to lose a close one in part due to that.

 

[Palindrome_rivals517509]

We're getting jobs by the officials yet again.

1. Questionable call taking away Lowery sack.

2. Missed fair catch signal.

3. Missed the targeting call on CT's 3rd down run

It seems we have to beat the other team and the officials

I’m trying to remember if the Cats got even one call (or non-call) that a PSU fan would have a legit gripe about. Were there any?

 

[eastbaycat99]

Relative to possible calls PSU fans might have objected to, there was a pass interference penalty in the second quarter after Oliver entered the game that could have been waved off as not catchable, but that is the only one that springs to mind.

 

[pymvpymv]

Terribly one sided. Getting tiresome.

 

[NURoseBowl]

I'm never one to bellyache about the officials, but I'd be hard-pressed to imagine that any of the PSU posters on their boards are coming up with complaints about the zebras today. Still need to watch the replay, but it often seemed that Penn State's best offense was Northwestern penalties.

 

[lunker35]

There were two punts that were spotted very poorly in PSU's favor. The refs have been remarkably bad this year. Is it that hard to do?

 

[Alaskawildkat]

My two major take aways were #1 Glad Mitchell was able to make the game winning field goal after the previous miscues; #2 Glad the final outcome was a win so the abysmal officiating against NU didn't make the difference in the game's outcome.

 

[Hungry Jack]

The officiating was ACC-quality today.

 

[GlideCat]

The officiating was ACC-quality today.

Interesting thing. I followed a thread over to the PSU board. There was a PSU fan posting there that in his opinion PSU got the benefit of several bad calls which helped them turn the momentum on us.

Rare for officiating to be so badly one-sided that fans for both sides agree.

 

[JoeWildcat]

The officiating was ACC-quality today.

I think these were refs who were suspended by the ACC and were picking up some extra work. Sarcasm alert.

 

[techtim72]

The momentum turner for PSU was the roughing the kicker (legit call) followed by roughing the passer. Gibson never even touched Hackenburg. He twisted at the last second to avoid him. The refs went out of their way to protect Hackenburg yet a case could be made that CT was taken out of the game by a targeted hit.

 

[lunker35]

Question on the roughing the punter penalty. It looked like the punt was blocked from my section or at least tipped. Was it tipped and if so doesn't that negate any roughing?

 

[ToledoCat]

Michigan State was robbed on a ridiculous call. the DB forced a bigger receoiever out of bounds... a very rare call, just like sideline interference. The replay showed nothing. If there is going to be replay, blatant errors need to be corrected. Nebraska deserved a break, but to win on a rare call. The pass interference and holding calls are judgement and will always be there... but to make things up... any way glad NU got the win

 

[NJCat83588]

Question on the roughing the punter penalty. It looked like the punt was blocked from my section or at least tipped. Was it tipped and if so doesn't that negate any roughing?

You're right, if it was tipped it would negate the penalty. Didn't look like it was on TV though.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Here is a shout out to Waterboy for taking the time and effort to locate and chronicle in play-by-play sequence the atrocious and one-sided officiating against Northwestern when Penn State came to Ryan Field Saturday. Just one example:

"QB, Cristian Hackenberg, one of the B1G’s most widely promoted offensive playmaking personalities, gets snared in a bear-hug by ‘Cat TFL-specialist DE Dean Lowry 8-yards behind his pocket protection. Hack struggles to separate from Lowry’s vice-like grip but realizes he can’t; so he raises the bean in a motion mimicking the set-up of a throw-away pass to avoid the sack. Lowry sees the QB’s raised hand then instinctively reacts with a Jake Herbert-inspired freestyle wrestling takedown: lifting Hack off his feet at the waist, twirling both himself and the QB around forcing Hack to bring the bean back into his body to avoid a potential fumble, then driving himself and a ragdoll QB to the turf. The ref viewing this takedown 2-yards in front of him blows his whistle the very instant Lowry completed his twirl and just prior to his plant of the media darling QB to the Dyche’s Ditch fescue. Late whistle be damned. ..... himself couldn’t have halted his momentum midway through the seamless motion of this takedown; but evidently the zebra closest to the action thought otherwise, citing Mr. Lowry with a roughing penalty. Talk about imposing a pre-determined protectionist protocol ....."

For the full account[ing]:

http://hailtopurple.com/waterboy/index93.html


As I commented on this board Saturday, after the game - my own two take-aways were that I was glad our kicker was able to redeem himself and that the game ended with a win so we wouldn't have to reflect back on how the game was stolen by the officials.

Or to restate exactly:

"My two major take aways were #1 Glad Mitchell was able to make the game winning field goal after the previous miscues; #2 Glad the final outcome was a win so the abysmal officiating against NU didn't make the difference in the game's outcome."

19 Alaskawildkat, Saturday at 9:33 PM

 

[willycat]

The momentum turner for PSU was the roughing the kicker (legit call) followed by roughing the passer. Gibson never even touched Hackenburg. He twisted at the last second to avoid him. The refs went out of their way to protect Hackenburg yet a case could be made that CT was taken out of the game by a targeted hit.

Agree that the roughing the kicker call was correct but some others were very questionable to say the least. The roughing on Lowrey was probably a judgement call but if the ref thought Hack was in his grasp, then why no whistle. Your right that Thorson was hurt when the Pen St. guy hit him in his head/helmet and no flag. But the really worst of the bunch was the no call on the fair catch/return. That call would have been in pee-we ball.

 

[hdhntr1]

Relative to possible calls PSU fans might have objected to, there was a pass interference penalty in the second quarter after Oliver entered the game that could have been waved off as not catchable, but that is the only one that springs to mind.

The reason it was uncatchable is because he was interferred with and they blew an obvious PI right after Oliver came into the game. And the Roughing the kicker was pretty iffy as he did not actually hit him but more the kicker came down on top of him. At best a running into the kicker (or does that call still exist) and even that would be iffy. Lots of bad calls. And they did seem pretty one sided keeping PSU in the game.

 

[hdhntr1]

The momentum turner for PSU was the roughing the kicker (legit call) followed by roughing the passer. Gibson never even touched Hackenburg. He twisted at the last second to avoid him. The refs went out of their way to protect Hackenburg yet a case could be made that CT was taken out of the game by a targeted hit.

The roughing thr kicker was bogus as I believe it was Gibson, went underneath and never hit him. At most running into the kicker and even that would be questionable.. The Roughing the passer call was not on Gibson but on 90. It was marginal but at least could be somewhat justified (but not when the helmet to helmet hit on and hands to the head calls for Thorson were missed).

 

[Smolmania]

The play before the horrible Lowry roughing call, Hackenberg threw a screen pass that absolutely was a lateral that the refs blew dead. Gibson (I think) alertly picked it up and would have had a clear path to the end zone. Somehow the commentators missed it too...

I don't believe that you can advance a fumbled lateral. You can recover, but the clear path isn't really relevant. BTW, the quality of officiating in the BIG is brutal. The call against Sparty down the stretch was absurd (tho I guess watching the ACC refs in the Duke game makes me believe that it's more than just our conference). Wondering if the proliferation of replays is affecting the quality of officiating?

 

[Hungry Jack]

You guys should read the Waterboy's review over at Hail to Purple. It's a blow by blow description of the zebra follies last week.

EDIT: Sorry-Alaska already posted link

 

[CatFuzz]

I don't believe that you can advance a fumbled lateral. You can recover, but the clear path isn't really relevant. BTW, the quality of officiating in the BIG is brutal. The call against Sparty down the stretch was absurd (tho I guess watching the ACC refs in the Duke game makes me believe that it's more than just our conference). Wondering if the proliferation of replays is affecting the quality of officiating?

Unless the rules have changed recently a fumbled lateral can be advanced (but not a muff). In regard to officiating I used to think the B10 had the worst officiating of any conference. I believed it had improved to about the best in recent years but now it seems to be rapidly regressing again. I wonder if the retirement of Dave Parry has had a significant impact.

 

[SmellyCat]

Seems like the zebras have been a bit more helpful to NU today. The personal foul on the McHugh pass was a bit baffling to me - if not targeting then what WAS the personal foul? It didn't even look like he led with the helmet. Also on Shuler's long run, there appeared to be some holding as well.

But I'll take it.

 

[GlideCat]

Seems like the zebras have been a bit more helpful to NU today. The personal foul on the McHugh pass was a bit baffling to me - if not targeting then what WAS the personal foul? It didn't even look like he led with the helmet. Also on Shuler's long run, there appeared to be some holding as well.

But I'll take it.

The new B1G rule appears to be that personal fouls can only be committed by NU. It appears legal to grab JJ's facemask and hang on for dear life causing him to leave the game for a play favoring his neck and that is okay.

 

[Gladeskat]

How about that horrible personal foul call against Purdue on the tackle of McHugh! How can one call a personal foul when there was no contact?

 

[CSCatFan1]

Hard to believe they missed that face-mask penalty. The play-by-play guy could see it from the booth.

 

[GlideCat]

How about that horrible personal foul call against Purdue on the tackle of McHugh! How can one call a personal foul when there was no contact?

I am in complete agreement with all calls that favor NU. I am sure the PU player had the intent to foul.

 

[Gladeskat]

The refs must have been embarrassed looking at the replay and seeing that there was very little contact!

 

[SmellyCat]

I got that impression too.