The 2001 BYU Game

[MSUDC11]

I don’t think I’ve ever been as mad about a football game as I was the last time these clowns came to Starkville. Perhaps the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen in any sport.

Who else was there? I have hated BYU for two decades just because of that one game.

 

[Digging dog]

I can confirm.

 

[Xenomorph]

Fans always complain about officiating..

...but that game was unreal. There's a reason all of us still remember it 16 years later.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Unless I am mistaken, this was the game where State was down by less than a touchdown, got a pass completed on 4th and long to a receiver around BYU's 15 yd line, and was called back on a complete ******** penalty. Illegal pass/qb was past line of scrimmage, and lost. I lost my 17ing mind.

ETA: Correction, it may have been the Houston game. Doesn't matter we always seem to get 17ed

 

[patdog]

Usually when a lot of our fans are bitching about the officials, I'm thinking nope, the officials didn't do that bad of a job. Not that day. Their OL were routinely tackling our DL on every play and nothing was called. It was ridiculous.

 

[tatedog]

You are correct that was against Houston in 2009. The officials in that game were a joke too.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

Those officials packed a lifetime of "Calls Only Made When Playing Bama in Tuscaloosa" into one game

 

[thekimmer]

As I recall, a mountain west crew called that game.

Where are the officials coming from for this one?

 

[thekimmer]

That did happen vs Houston and our QB was indeed well behind the LOS.

 

[dogmatic]

Can confirm ... had same anger.

I've seen a whole lot of football at every conceivable level of play - I've seen a lot of bad calls and poorly-officiated games. I know there have been instances when a single bad call has caused us to lose -- I'd imagine there are others that have allowed us to win - I certainly realize officials are human.

That said, it's really not possible for me to imagine officiating favoring one team more than another than it favored BYU in that game, and I say that having watched Bear Bryant's manicured crews work us over in seasons of yore. For a time in the 2001 BYU game, the Mountain West officials called one personal foul after another after another on State for the most minor, incidental, ticky-tack things. For a while it seemed every incomplete BYU pass was due to interference, every defensive pressure due to a DL using hands to the face, etc. If it had happened to Alabama, it would have made national news. As it was, we were just MSU and 17ed. It was egregious in every sense of the word.

Perhaps, trying to be reasonable about it, the Mountain West crew officiated to a different standard of football -- That was back when Mountain West games all ended in scores like 55-52. Maybe the Mountain West officials had never seen anyone play defense before.

 

[dogmatic]

The same I'm sure. Interconference games make that part of the contract - your place, our officials and vice versa.

 

[00Dawg]

I was there. I've never been so ready to punch an official.

That whole season was frustrating on so many levels, and then to have an undefeated team roll in, get consistently outplayed by our team, and have the refs rescue them time and again.... 19 penalties between the teams, 10 on State for 127 yards. 5 came after State had hit 31 points in the 4th quarter.
Definitely the worst officiated game I've witnessed. 2017 Auburn is second, FYI.

Gah...made myself look at the 2001 schedule. That 3-8 team lost 2 games by 2 points, 2 games by 3 points, and another by 7. I still remember the ref blowing his whistle when Jerious flipped over the pile at Auburn and was headed for a TD. What a horrible year on so many levels...

 

[RocketDawg]

The same I'm sure. Interconference games make that part of the contract - your place, our officials and vice versa.

BYU is no longer in the Mountain West. They are Independent. Hopefully we'll get a competent crew from a major conference, like the B1G or ACC.

And yes, I was at that game too. It was absolutely amazing how biased the calling was. I think I have it recorded somewhere, but if I do it's on VHS and I don't think I even have a tape player any more. I may have possibly moved it over to DVD.

 

[Vecchio Cane]

I hate conspiracy theories in sports, but 2 of them can't be denied: The Lakers/ Kings Playoff series in 2002, and the 2001 MSU vs BYU game.

2001 was the 3rd or 4th year of the BCS, r.i.p., and schools were coming to grips with the amount of money that was at stake.

BYU was the only hope for the Mountain West Conference to cash in on a BCS paycheck, and they damn sure made sure that MSU wasn't going to deny them. That game and the Cam Newton saga jaded my view of college football forever

 

[patdog]

I suspect BYU probably still uses officials from the MWC. Or possibly PAC-12.

 

[KurtRambis4]

The 2009 Houston

game is right up there, to me, with this game.

While there may not have been as many bad calls in the Houston game, there were a number of game-outcome-changing calls that were blantantly BS against us.

 

[icouldjustpuke]

I remember one of our backs making a first down and pitching the ball up in the air in celebration after being tackled. Nothing extreme, just about six feet in the air while lying on his back. Flag, unsportsmanlike conduct, 15 yds. Next play whoever was tackled walked over and handed the ball to official, I was expecting a flag then.
Anybody remember Fant getting hit out of bounds on the 20 on the west side? While he was in the air he threw the ball at the defender, another flag.
Then there was the guy asking Jackie if he wanted some cheese with his whine in the post game show. It almost made me happy that their back had his leg broke. Hawaii smoked their *** the next week

 

[KingBarkus]

In the 2001 game, there was a back judge (in the secondary) that was either on the take or seriously hated Jackie and/or Mississippi State. Egregious. My all-time ref screw jobs are:

2001 BYU game
Dick Pace Egg Bowl
1992 Bama game
Houston (Sumlin) game

Dishonorable mentions:
2000 lsu game in Baton Rouge
Eddie Kennison bogus whistle-blowing punt return lsu game

 

[FlotownDawg]

This is the reason. BYU was undefeated and ranked around 8th or so when they played us. Back then, there was no automatic berth to the BCS for a team from a non-power conference. Teams had to finish in the top either 6 or 8 in order to qualify for the BCS. BYU had to have the win over State to have any chance of making the BCS and earning that huge paycheck for the Mountain West. You better damn sure believe the MWC league office let those officials know that. The amount of holding BYU did was incredible and it was never called. On multiple occasions, the crowd started chanting "hooolding, hooolding." I've never heard that before or since. The ultimate screw job.
Karma came next week when Hawaii dropped 72 points on their Mormon asses.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

I was there and remember the whole crowd chanting "holding, holding" to no avail.

I too hate blaming games on referees, but that's one of the few that definitely can be. It wasn't just outrageously bad game changing call like Houston 2009, but a whole game of them.

I also hate blaming things on conspiracy theories even more, but when you consider how much $ was on the line for the MWC, it makes sense.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Same here. Recorded it (Houston, not BYU) and kept it as a testament to how badly we got screwed. Not only was there that atrocious, game-changing call mentioned, but UH got away with blatant holding all night, and at least a few PI's, including one that resulted in an INT and another score for UH.

As I recall, the point-swing was easily at least 17 for that game...probably more. We lost by 7.

 

[RemyZero]

My two memories from that game are a State fan decking a BYU trash talker in the face outside of the west/home stands after the game and the a-hole "cheese with your whine" post game show caller. Jack or the producer or whoever hung up on him pretty fast and moved on as if nothing happened.

 

[UnmutemeHadad]

Who was standing near the refs van after the game? I was mad as hell, but I wasn't as mad as the 60 & 70 year old state fans that chased the refs into it. They were cussing, throwing birds, pounding on the van and it's windows. It was great.

 

[was21]

Your team has to be good enough to beat the officiating crew...always

 

[jakldawg]

I've never been in a madder crowd leaving a stadium. Everyone just seemed pissed, to the point where I heard this charming exchange: "want to end up like your running back? Say "go cougs" again!" There was no doubt that BYU was going to leave the stadium undefeated, no matter what it took.
(close second would be Arkansas 2000- the ice/sleet storm game)

 

[GloryDawg]

Your team has to be good enough to beat the officiating crew...always

Didn't matter that night. I was there and remembering being pissed off.

 

[Dawg1979]

i was there, and i was raising hell after that one. some of the BYU fans were as nice as ever, and some may be the worst fans i've encountered in my 20+ years of attending games. i guess every fan base has theirs, i just assumed all their fans would be passing out cards, riding bikes, and harassing the **** out of me for things other than football.

Who was the running back for BYU for that game? Luke Staley maybe? i know i hated him for several years. maybe so much that i have mentally blocked his name out of my mind.

 

[3407Dewey]

Can confirm ... had same anger.

I've seen a whole lot of football at every conceivable level of play - I've seen a lot of bad calls and poorly-officiated games. I know there have been instances when a single bad call has caused us to lose -- I'd imagine there are others that have allowed us to win - I certainly realize officials are human.

That said, it's really not possible for me to imagine officiating favoring one team more than another than it favored BYU in that game, and I say that having watched Bear Bryant's manicured crews work us over in seasons of yore. For a time in the 2001 BYU game, the Mountain West officials called one personal foul after another after another on State for the most minor, incidental, ticky-tack things. For a while it seemed every incomplete BYU pass was due to interference, every defensive pressure due to a DL using hands to the face, etc. If it had happened to Alabama, it would have made national news. As it was, we were just MSU and 17ed. It was egregious in every sense of the word.

Perhaps, trying to be reasonable about it, the Mountain West crew officiated to a different standard of football -- That was back when Mountain West games all ended in scores like 55-52. Maybe the Mountain West officials had never seen anyone play defense before.

I specifically recall one "penalty" - when our receiver who had caught the ball and then tossed the ball to the official, was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct (the ball went over his head). I thought my head was going to explode.

 

[Mjoelner]

I used to exit the stadium right where the refs were brought in. And even if we beat the hell out of somebody there would always be 3 or 4 people out of the 55,000 that would hang out and yell at the refs as they were leaving. On the BYU night, it was almost a full blown riot. Security was having to keep people away from their vehicle.

I've posted this before but I remember listening to Jackie during the postgame interview say "I've coached a lot years. I've won a lot of games and I've lost a lot of games but tonight is the first time I can say that I've had a game taken from me." Of course he got fined for that but I'm sure he didn't mind it and I'm sure glad he said it!

ETA: I called my dad, who was a high school ref and defended refs at every level on about 99% of the calls I thought were B.S., and he even said that was the worst game he had ever seen. He said even the ESPN announcers couldn't believe it and were commenting on it.

 

[DAWGS1.sixpack]

I was on the field for that game and it was in fact THE WORST officiated game I have ever seen at any level.
Jackie cussed the refs like I've never heard a coach do and was actually surprised we didn't get a couple of bench unsprortsmanlike calls.
It was Justih Jenkins if I remember correctly that got the 15 yd call for tossing the ball in the air after a 1st down catch.
BYU's OL had a such a bow in it all night that it looked like they were lining up for an extra point but no call for that all night and Jackie kept pointing it out every time they were on O
We should have won that game by 10-14 points and got robbed no doubt.

 

[Philly Dawg]

That was Houston and replay showed he was behind the line.

 

[anon1787432961]

I emailed the commissioner and sent videos of plays to their conference commissioner with the names of the officials that matched the plays.

He wouldn't of course admit it but I everything pointed to what everyone saw and knew was going on.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Did you tweet at his daughter too?

 

[Dawgg]

I'll go to my grave believing...

I hate conspiracy theories in sports, but 2 of them can't be denied: The Lakers/ Kings Playoff series in 2002, and the 2001 MSU vs BYU game.

That the NBA is almost as scripted as professional wrestling. The 2006 NBA Finals (Mavericks vs Heat I) specifically was brutal to watch.

 

[vhdawg]

I've posted this before but I remember listening to Jackie during the postgame interview say "I've coached a lot years. I've won a lot of games and I've lost a lot of games but tonight is the first time I can say that I've had a game taken from me." Of course he got fined for that but I'm sure he didn't mind it and I'm sure glad he said it!

This was back when 15 minutes after the game was over, they would play the postgame press conference on the jumbotron, and a TON of us stayed in the stadium and waited for it, and we cheered madly when Sherrill said that.

 

[MarkDallas]

Here is the BYU highlight reel.

 

[RocketDawg]

I suspect BYU probably still uses officials from the MWC. Or possibly PAC-12.

Yeah, you may be right. They've got to get them from somewhere. Any idea who Notre Dame uses for home games?

 

[RocketDawg]

Didn't they also have a hot shot QB that needed some good wins? Seems like he was a cousin or related somehow to Padraig Harrington (pro golfer from Ireland).

 

[patdog]

I'm sure Notre Dame uses ACC officials. They're practically a member for football too with 5 guaranteed ACC games per year.

 

[RocketDawg]

BYU was holding ... literally ripping jerseys off ... on just about every play and it was never called.