OVC officiating

[RadioFan]

OVC fans, what is your opinion on your conference's officiating crews?


I ask because the crew officiating the ASU/ISU game last Saturday was probably the most consistent and balanced crew I have ever seen. They embarrassed the SoCon's norm of officiating.


Even though App State lost, the refs were the best I had seen in years at this level.

[BEAR]

OVC had some decent officiating when we went last year to play Tennessee Tech. No complaints from me unless you want to ask about SLC refs...yikes..they're big 10 refs in training I heard.

[RadioFan]

SoCon refs are NFL replacement rejects.

[GSUEagles#1]

SoCon refs are NFL replacement rejects.

I thought App LOVED SOCON Refs. If GSU EVER complains about them, we are automatically WRONG... Crazy thinking!

[RadioFan]

I thought App LOVED SOCON Refs. If GSU EVER complains about them, we are automatically WRONG... Crazy thinking!


You're exaggerating just a bit.

I'll also leave these here:

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/A5IISvPCcAAZ2eY.jpg
http://www.appfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/proof.jpg

[asumike83]

I thought App LOVED SOCON Refs. If GSU EVER complains about them, we are automatically WRONG... Crazy thinking!

Nobody questions that SoCon refs are terrible, we just question that they are only terrible for GSU.

[Apphole]

Yep. Everyone knows SoCon refs are awful, but there is an even distribution of bad officiating. GaSo fans are the ones that cry about it every single time they lose and pretend to be victimized.

[GoAgs72]

Try Big Sky refs. That's been the only bad thing about moving to the Big Sky Conference.

[Cleets]

OVC fans, what is your opinion on your conference's officiating crews?


I ask because the crew officiating the ASU/ISU game last Saturday was probably the most consistent and balanced crew I have ever seen. They embarrassed the SoCon's norm of officiating.


Even though App State lost, the refs were the best I had seen in years at this level.


Agreed... 100%
Those officials were excellent - and - SoCon officiating is without a doubt THE WORST I've ever seen
and I'm not implying they help or favor SoCon teams because they don't
They're just awful

[Twentysix]

Whoever reffed the NDSU SDSU game did a very good job. There was maybe an error here or there but it was nothing like a regular season game.

And they OVERTURNED a reviewed play. Oh the humanity!

[Cleets]

Try Big Sky refs. That's been the only bad thing about moving to the Big Sky Conference.

Certain Big Sky crews can be bad - but they at least seem to know the rules of the game
SoCon officials appear to not even understand the rules of College Football

[LehighU11]

I know a lot has been said about the poor quality of MEAC refs, but after witnessing two playoff games against CAA teams in the past couple of years that were well-officiated by MEAC refs, I am convinced that the Patriot League has the worst officials in the FCS.

In Lehigh's game against Colgate this year, every single play was marked at least an extra yard further than the correct spot. These marks went both ways, but since Colgate dominated time of possession and Lehigh's offense was terrible that day, it led to a sizable number of 3rd and 4th down conversions that shouldn't have been. The crews are wildly inconsistent; some games see double digit penalties, others nothing more than one delay of game or an obvious false false start. On many occasions, you can watch a game without a single holding call.

Scary to think that the NFL replacement refs were castoffs from small-town high school leagues, third tier arena football, and lingerie football.

[SpeedkingATL]

OVC fans, what is your opinion on your conference's officiating crews?


I ask because the crew officiating the ASU/ISU game last Saturday was probably the most consistent and balanced crew I have ever seen. They embarrassed the SoCon's norm of officiating.


Even though App State lost, the refs were the best I had seen in years at this level.

Totally agree with this accessment, and the SoCon refs were probably a little better this year than was their norm. Their norm is frightenly bad!

[Professor Chaos]

Whoever reffed the NDSU SDSU game did a very good job. There was maybe an error here or there but it was nothing like a regular season game.

And they OVERTURNED a reviewed play. Oh the humanity!
Those were Southland conference referees. I also thought they did a good job.

[lionsrking2]

Those were Southland conference referees. I also thought they did a good job.

The SLC has a working relationship with the Big XII and we'll sometimes get their top crews for our games ... we had Scott Novak's crew for our game with McNeese earlier this year ... he was the referee for the BCS National Championship game last year and considered one of the best in the country ... not sure if Big XII guys work the playoffs or not ... don't see why they wouldn't if available.

[Cocky]

Our problems have been our performance not the referees.
Not sure about football but several basketball referees also do SEC.

[ITmonarch10]

I know a lot has been said about the poor quality of MEAC refs, but after witnessing two playoff games against CAA teams in the past couple of years that were well-officiated by MEAC refs, I am convinced that the Patriot League has the worst officials in the FCS.

In Lehigh's game against Colgate this year, every single play was marked at least an extra yard further than the correct spot. These marks went both ways, but since Colgate dominated time of possession and Lehigh's offense was terrible that day, it led to a sizable number of 3rd and 4th down conversions that shouldn't have been. The crews are wildly inconsistent; some games see double digit penalties, others nothing more than one delay of game or an obvious false false start. On many occasions, you can watch a game without a single holding call.

Scary to think that the NFL replacement refs were castoffs from small-town high school leagues, third tier arena football, and lingerie football.

I think the CAA, patriot league, and Ivy league share the same refs. Can anyone verify this information?

[TTUEagles]

I have had no real problems with them... The top SEC official right now, Tom Ritter, was a former OVC guy - I actually remember him calling some of my games. I've never had a real problem with referees. Football is tough as hell to officiate, I think everyone should try it once and that will stop a lot of the bitching...

[LehighU11]

I think the CAA, patriot league, and Ivy league share the same refs. Can anyone verify this information?

I believe you are correct, and that some of them do work in each league. I recall someone mentioning an Ivy League crew coming in to do our home game against Columbia earlier this year, however. Ours (Patriot League) tend to work together in the same crews throughout the season.

[Twentysix]

The MVFC/MAC/BIG 10 share a referee pool also. Obviously the best refs do the Big Ten games though.


As for Big 10 vs. MVFC officials, there is now an organization known as the Midwest Football Officials Alliance. It is made up of officials previously with the Big 10, MAC, and MVFC. The supervisor is Bill Carrollo, former NFL referee. Theoretically they are all on the same staff but most officials predominantly call games in one of the three conferences. The understanding is that will ultimately blend. The better officials will work Big 10 games and the lower group will work MVFC. That doesn't mean the MVFC will be getting bad officials. It takes many years and lots of evaluation to get to this level. All of the officials in the Alliance are good officials. Doesn't mean they don't make mistakes or have issues though. -indybison (Referee in Indiana)

[UAalum72]

I believe you are correct, and that some of them do work in each league. I recall someone mentioning an Ivy League crew coming in to do our home game against Columbia earlier this year, however. Ours (Patriot League) tend to work together in the same crews throughout the season.
Most northeastern officiating crews are assigned by the ECAC for its member conferences, based on coaches ratings, observations, physical conditioning, closed book exam scores, geographical location, administrative requirements and supervisory discretion. http://football.ecacofficials.com/media/download_gallery/ECAC%20Crews%20Sheet1.pdf

[stevdock]

I was very impressed with the refs that we had on Saturday and we mentioned it a few times throughout the game and before the game. THey were out on the field doing their homework and getting warmed up with the players. Then during the game they seemed to be in the right position and really called a very good game. I also thought it was awesome how much they talked during the game. On penalties it was quick and to the point, but during breaks it seemed like they huddled as much as possible and talked about certain plays. After our misdirection play for touchdown it sure seemed like they were making sure it was a completely legit play.

[GSUEagles#1]

The refs for the GSU/UCA game were "OK" They reviewed three, maybe 4 plays and there was one missed play. The problem with that game was actually the game clock and I don't know if that was ref's fault or clock operator or both.

[BJWerth]

Most northeastern officiating crews are assigned by the ECAC for its member conferences, based on coaches ratings, observations, physical conditioning, closed book exam scores, geographical location, administrative requirements and supervisory discretion. http://football.ecacofficials.com/media/download_gallery/ECAC%20Crews%20Sheet1.pdf

The ECAC only assigns DIII schools in the Northeast. They have not been associated with FCS since 2003. The crews that work the Ivy, Colonial and Patriot leagues are contracted through those organizations using the same supervisor. These crews all work these leagues equally and are assigned NCAA playoffs based upon performance. The FCS National Championship game last year consisted of men from this organization and as I recall worked a near perfect game. I did some checking and one of those that worked that game was on the Lehigh/Colgate game that LehighU11 said was off on every spot the entire game. Apparently he must have not jumped on the Lehigh bandwagon or is a graduate of Lafayette to be that bad one week and then work Sam Houston and NDSU in January and have a total turn-around.

[eaglewraith]

The refs for the GSU/UCA game were "OK" They reviewed three, maybe 4 plays and there was one missed play. The problem with that game was actually the game clock and I don't know if that was ref's fault or clock operator or both.

There were 4 reviews. Two of them went in our favor, and I'm still not sure about them ruling the pitch as an illegal forward pass. I am however unhappy about the 3 missed intentional grounding calls that should have been made on UCA. For the most part they were much better than Socon refs, but they did still make some mistakes. Thankfully we had review on that fumble at the end though, the refs had deemed it as complete and down by contact although the only possibilities were complete with a fumble or incomplete. The replay official had already buzzed down before the head ref finished his explanation.

[BEAR]

There were 4 reviews. Two of them went in our favor, and I'm still not sure about them ruling the pitch as an illegal forward pass. I am however unhappy about the 3 missed intentional grounding calls that should have been made on UCA. For the most part they were much better than Socon refs, but they did still make some mistakes. Thankfully we had review on that fumble at the end though, the refs had deemed it as complete and down by contact although the only possibilities were complete with a fumble or incomplete. The replay official had already buzzed down before the head ref finished his explanation.

I saw that last fumble on replay and from 2 different angles you could have said fumble or elbow down. Angle is everything, especially when it comes to whether or not a ball crosses a goal line. The Eagles deserved to win that game no matter how many calls went our way or didn't. I called it a fumble on AGS. Sadly. But onto next year!