I have struggled with this over the years. Were it not for the targeting scandals of two years ago keeping USC viable and in competition, I might be able to let it go. Most of us can agree that Oregon is likely a paper tiger. Many of their games have been close, and they dropped one against Stanford, who unfortunately seems to be the leagues “giant slayer” this year. As the season draws to an end I am left to wonder if the PAC 12 will keep to its conspiring ways? We all know a games outcome can be influenced by Referees. On any play you can find a “hold” if you want to. With Oregon already having a preliminary seat in the CFP will that influence the PAC-12s ability to fairly officiate the game in 2 weeks should Utah get past Stanford? And if there is a championship game involving Oregon will the outcome of that game be affected by a Conference that has a reputation for being uncompetitive in the CFP landscape?
The real issue for me is TRUST. When we played WAZZU several years ago that team was reeling from a suicide within their ranks. The family was on hand for the game against us and it was wildly publicized. There was a phantom block in the back that went against us on one of Coveys returns that negated what would have been a winning score for us. So far the PAC-12 has not done enough to repair the trust that was betrayed two and three years ago. I am interested to see how these next two weeks pan out? Am I suffering from delusions of persecution? Perhaps. I am hoping to see some dialogue for or against this theory…
It’s complicated and there is definitely a trust issue and refs are an easy target, but either team usually can find blown calls to support their view of how it went (confirmation bias). PAC12 refs do not have a good reputation (they just call games differently - see when they do bowl games or pre-conference matchups). I wish they were more consistent (if you call lots of holds, always call lots of holds). Targeting has been an issue, but it’s kind of out of the refs’ hands now. Yes, there are likely fouls on almost every play, so it’s actually good that they hold the flag unless it affects the play.
Teams know who the crews are and their tendencies. They have to safeguard against these and accept that there could be a few calls that they just can’t agree with. It’s unfortunate when they happen at critical moments or on key big plays, but sometimes that’s why they were big plays. I actually think the PAC12 refs have generally improved. The conference has done some good things in this area.
Refs are people. I don’t believe in any conspiracy or memo from the head office to look for ways to influence the game or protect a certain team. I think they do the best job they can and most refs (not all) would love to be invisible - do their job right and get a good score on making the right calls so they can ref in bigger games.
Utah has 3 paths to the rose bowl if Oregon is the Pac-12 darling, but I don’t think Oregon can win out (Like when they were the ‘darling’ but lost to ASU in '19, costing Utah the Rose)
If Utah wins out - Roses. If Utah loses to Oregon in November and beats them Dec 3rd - Roses. If Utah loses to Oregon twice but beats the 'furd, arizona, and colorad9 - Roses.
Here is what frustrates me the most about officiating.
XY Z
Z is the opposing running back or QB.
Y is our defensive end
X is the opposing offensive lineman
As you can see, Y should be able to get to the RB/QB. But he can’t because he can’t seem to get loose from X. How is this not holding? And it happens all the time.
Edit to add: There was supposed to be more space between Y and Z, but for some reason, it only posted one space.
Sometimes the momentum is carrying Y another direction or Z makes a cut, but in general:
Might just down low though - seems that holding is usually called when it’s up near the shoulder pads and the defender puts there arms up to make it obvious.
