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Is referee anxiety a thing of the past?

desihawk

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Oct 1, 2002
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There was a time when iowa fans would wait with bated breath to learn about the identity of the ref particularly when playing against michigan. That said, i think it’s been over a decade since we were last subjected to blatant and repeatedly biased calls.

The recent isu game had a couple calls but those were not as blatant as what used to take place.

Since we play michigan on saturday, and their previous game (against maryland) was definitely swung at least to some extent by the refs, do we need to start to keep track of refs again?
 
There was a time when iowa fans would wait with bated breath to learn about the identity of the ref particularly when playing against michigan. That said, i think it’s been over a decade since we were last subjected to blatant and repeatedly biased calls.

The recent isu game had a couple calls but those were not as blatant as what used to take place.

Since we play michigan on saturday, and their previous game (against maryland) was definitely swung at least to some extent by the refs, do we need to start to keep track of refs again?
The 2005 Michigan was awful. Iowa's home winning steak snapped.
The ISU game on Saturday was terrible.
 
There was a time when iowa fans would wait with bated breath to learn about the identity of the ref particularly when playing against michigan. That said, i think it’s been over a decade since we were last subjected to blatant and repeatedly biased calls.

The recent isu game had a couple calls but those were not as blatant as what used to take place.

Since we play michigan on saturday, and their previous game (against maryland) was definitely swung at least to some extent by the refs, do we need to start to keep track of refs again?
Pretty much, now that Dave Witvoet is retired.
 
That was terrible indeed
I was there. Never laughed so hard walking out of a stadium after a loss. Lots of Florida-Hawk fans going at it. There were still photos of the fake offsides at Howl at the Moon that night.
 
People accept poor officiating as part of the game. I'll echo that Dave Wivoet is retired.
 
It's only bad refereeing when you lose. I bitch the most. We had a touchdown on that fumble against State!!!!
 
People accept poor officiating as part of the game. I'll echo that Dave Wivoet is retired.
Replay has helped somewhat. It makes sure turnovers are really turnovers, TD's are really TD's, etc. Doesn't mean there aren't close calls and things that go wrong, but fans at least think they get a fair shake with replay.
 
There are some big ten crews that are better than others. They’ve added some now blood too. The only crew that I am not a fan of is the Gopher fan, Mike Cannon. There is a nationwide shortage of officials at every level.

I think Jerry McGinn does a really good job. Also like Ron Snodgrass. Reputation also comes into play and I’m sure Iowa has that in its favor as KF is not know as abusive vs. some of his peers.
 
If I recall correctly, Clinton Solomon got facemasked on a play, and was hit with a facemask penalty. In Outback bowl
Yeah, that was bad. I recall the analyst in the booth was pretty animated about the bad calls going against Iowa. There were a couple times Iowa was flagged for "tackling" near the sidelines but were clearly in bounds.
 
Just like the Solomon face mask call in the Outback Bowl, there was a play in the ‘05 Michigan game where their receiver literally tackled our DB on purpose to prevent an INT and they called Iowa for PI. Can’t remember the player involved…maybe Jovon Johnson?
 
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I was at the game vs Michigan and walked out furious. I've never seen a replay though, so the specifics are less cemented in my mind. The Fla bowl game...holy crap. I was at a neighbors house and we were all losing our minds. My wife thought I was going to have a heart attack.
 
I was at the game vs Michigan and walked out furious. I've never seen a replay though, so the specifics are less cemented in my mind. The Fla bowl game...holy crap. I was at a neighbors house and we were all losing our minds. My wife thought I was going to have a heart attack.

In that 2005 Mich game the first missed call that really got the hawk fans riled up and booing the refs was an obvious wide receiver hold on a short pass to the sidelines. The hold let the receiver who caught the ball get loose for about a 45 yard TD which at the time still left Mich behind in the 2nd half. But it changed momentum.

What bothered me also about that game was Iowa got out to about a 17-7 or 17-3 lead by letting Tate do his thing but then Kirk seemed to go ball control and run the ball mostly. The hawk offense sputtered enough until they got behind late.

Then OKeefe unleashed Tate and he led the offense right down the field to get it to overtime.

So why Kirk ever shut down the offense for most of the second half is just another example of his conservative nature letting a team back in the game and to beat the hawks.. This is one of my biggest criticisms of Kirk for not going for the kill shots so to speak
 
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In that 2005 Mich game the first missed call that really got the hawk fans riled up and booing the refs was an obvious wide receiver hold on a short pass to the sidelines. The hold let the receiver who caught the ball get loose for about a 45 yard TD which at the time still left Mich behind in the 2nd half. But it changed momentum.

What bothered me also about that game was Iowa got out to about a 17-7 or 17-3 lead by letting Tate do his thing but then Kirk seemed to go ball control and run the ball mostly. The hawk offense sputtered enough until they got behind late.

Then OKeefe unleashed Tate and he led the offense right down the field to get it to overtime.

So why Kirk ever shut down the offense for most of the second half is just another example of his conservative nature letting a team back in the game and to beat the hawks.. This is one of my biggest criticisms of Kirk for not going for the kill shots so to speak
A 17 point lead in the late 3rd quarter may have been all but insurmountable in the 1960s, but college football has changed drastically over the past half century. There is no such thing as a 'safe lead' anymore, unless you're up like 42-10 with just minutes to go in the game. The quarterback position is more valued than ever before, and the rules/officiating reflect that. The good captain does not value the QB position as highly as most other programs, which is infuriating because while Iowa has shown that it can win without a quality QB, it cannot win big without one. Iowa would be a national title favorite if it had Bryce Young.
 
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The personal foul on Jones was a head scratcher. The PI on Bruce was completely bogus. Bruce was being blatantly held. Should have actually gone against MI and given us first and goal. And there were countless holds by MI that went uncalled.

We didn’t deserve to win this game by any means, but the refs didn’t do us any favors.
 
The offsides penalty on the kicking team gets the most attention, but that was one that always stood out to me more. I think because how do you get that wrong? It almost had to be rigged in my mind.
yeah, I think that was the first time in the history of college football that call was ever made...(being serious too)
 
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The personal foul on Jones was a head scratcher. The PI on Bruce was completely bogus. Bruce was being blatantly held. Should have actually gone against MI and given us first and goal. And there were countless holds by MI that went uncalled.

We didn’t deserve to win this game by any means, but the refs didn’t do us any favors.
spot on post....I am kind of thinking the PI on Bruce was made in live play 'in case' Iowa were to have scored...
 
just in case anybody thinks that iowa fans are bitching unnecessarily, here are a few posts from the psu forum...:

Referines in full force today in Iowa City - phantom clipping call when Iowa's anemic offense starts to get some momentum.

Referines striking early and often.

I hate this conference.

You know it’s bad when the announcers are talking about how bad the refs are and how many calls they missed on the wolverines and made on Iowa

Shameful we have a new commissioner and yet he hasn't fixed the perceived bias by the officials. I'm being nice.

Michigan getting all the calls today … shocking

Iowa got screwed again by the refs when they completed a pass inside the Michigan 5 yard line. Announcers said that every time Iowa has had a big play today, the refs threw a flag. The calls are really iffy and are killing Iowa.

Yeah, with Michigan being in the top 10, we're not beating the Referines this year.

I liked when Iowa center pancakes his block and the referines called unnecessary roughness. Nice touch.

Anybody watching the Iowa-scUM game? They just called an Offensive PI call on Iowa where the scUM defender grabs and holds onto the Iowa receiver as soon as he fires of the LOS. Just a horrendous call and should have been Defensive Holding automatic 1st Down. Just a ridiculous joke of a call.

Iowa was just called for offensive pass interference on 4th-and-2. Didn't see that in the replay, but it sure looked like a receiver was being held in the middle of the field at the goal line.

I like our chances of running on them. But I bet as soon as Singleton breaks a long one we see a flag for a phantom hold.
 
just in case anybody thinks that iowa fans are bitching unnecessarily, here are a few posts from the psu forum...:
Wow — pretty powerful to see our observations validated by a pretty neutral source. Again, we got dominated on the LOS and it almost would have been a travesty if we’d somehow pulled a win out of our butts with that hideous offensive display. Not blaming the loss on the refs, but there were definitely a number of awful calls at critical junctures in the game.
 
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Not saying it’s the reason Iowa lost however it killed momentum especially since the majority of these calls were on drives that Michigan was moving backwards in or near the red zone. Besides giving detailed analysis Joe Klatt is very honest..refreshing for him to call the ref’s out! Hopefully this officiating gets reprimanded for their obvious blatant wrong calls.
 
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