November 28th, 2016 at 9:49 AM ^
<blockquote>Did UM know the officiating crew prior to The Game? If so, why did they agree to them?</blockquote>
What makes you think that teams "agree to" officiating crews?
November 28th, 2016 at 9:49 AM ^
doesn't work like that. Each team puts together their own crew, and then the coaches play a game of paper-rock-scissors to determine which crew gets the game. In this instance, Harbaugh being a blunt object, went with "rock" 11 consecutive times and Meyer finally overcame him with a well-timed "paper." Turned out to be one of the most influential plays of the day in hindsight.
November 28th, 2016 at 9:57 AM ^
I could see Harbaugh playing that game like my kids did when they were little, and me having to say: "Coach Harbaugh, I know rock is the coolest looking and the strongest, but you can't just pick rock every time. You'll just keep losing!"
November 28th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
What pisses me off the most is that if they get refs from Michigan, they don't slant the game in Michigan's favor like Ohio people do for OSU. The slant only seems to go one way, and it's not toward Ann Arbor.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:06 AM ^
That's because Ohio has but one team. Refs from Michigan could very well be Sparty fans and have it in for us just as bad.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^
Many times over the years. There have been Michigan refs in our games... you just wouldn't know it.
Also Andy Minery said this morning that Michigan-based refs declined games based on conflict of interest where they felt they couldn't be fair, or at least, didn't want to be in the situation where they could be perceived as biased.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
He was the baseball coach at Grand Rapids CC for many years and called in the B1G for both basketball and football. He was a Michigan fan but you wouldn't have known it-Bo and Lloyd were in his ear constantly.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^
The sides are angled so the shit goes to the center of the toilet bowl which they call the horseshoe.
November 28th, 2016 at 12:16 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 9:46 AM ^
Why would it matter? It's not like they can vote them down. This isn't a jury trial.
November 28th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
Yeah, it's not like a jury, as far as I know. The coaches don't get to dismiss 3 of the refs they don't like.
Has anyone confirmed that these guys were really who people are saying they are? I mean, are they really a couple OSU fanboys and a guy that got fired for incompetence? Because if so, I think all fans across the B1G deserve to know why this is acceptable...
November 28th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
I made mention of this yesterday deep in a thread, but here in Texas, in the postseason coaches have a list of "preferred" arbiters and work from that list.
The ones they have deemed poor are not requested and both coaches typically get to choose from their assocation.
At the state games, the honor is bestowed on the arbiters with high ratings. (Baseball)
Football crews are well known. They have a profile, contact information, and coaches can look the week of to find out who they have (regular season)
November 28th, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^
I've been a varsity (HS) coach for 20 years. I always check as to who is going to officiate the next game. So....I would guarantee that Harbaugh knew who was officiating prior.
I have also officiated HS football. Without a doubt, I would have a difficult time not being biased toward UM if I 'reffed' one of their games, especially, The Game.
November 28th, 2016 at 9:58 AM ^
I wouldn't even TRY to be fair. Sort of like we saw on Saturday.
Dangit, I'm no better than those refs...
November 28th, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^
You're better, trust me, you're much much better.
November 28th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
"People who are fans, or might be fans, or ever have been fans of one of the teams in a rivalry game should not be allowed to ref in said rivalry game." Seems like common sense.
So how does this guy end up on the field for the marquee game of the CFB season?
November 28th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 10:13 AM ^
Again, the refs didn't force Speight to throw a couple picks or fumble the ball on the goal line. Speight blew it just as hard as the refs.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
Teams make mistakes. You shouldn't be punished for overcoming them by Terrible biased officiating.
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November 28th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
This anti-Michigan talking point is just plain stupid. OF COURSE Speight and the team make mistakes. OF COURSE it would have been better if we had been up 28-7 in the 4th. But that in NO WAY undermines the fact that we got fucked harder than any team I have ever seen get fucked by the refs. I mean, are people really saying that Harbugh should have game-planned for getting fucked by the refs? Really???
November 28th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
There are obviously many factors that go into determining who wins/loses. Uneven refs should never be one of those factors.
November 28th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
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November 28th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^
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November 28th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
The question isn't whether or not the coaching staff was aware of who the officiating crew was (I'm sure they were informed which crew would be working the game), it comes down to whether or not Harbaugh and company should be expected to run background checks on all officials before each game. I highly doubt they pay much attention to who the officials are, they probably trust the B1G to assign competent, unbiased officials each week.
Apparently we need to hire more staffers to run background checks on all officials, since the B1G can't do anything right.
November 28th, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 2:40 PM ^
is no question that he will. I expect that he will sometimes make statements regarding the officials pregame, calling them by name and even possibly identifying other games they have done in the past. He will put the spotlight directly on the officials to call a fair game, and if they don't he will talk about it. He may get fined a couple of times but eventually the BIG will just have to crack down on poor officiating to solve the problem. He has an uphill battle to climb here. Michigan got four years of bad calls under Brady Hoke and Hoke just kept clapping. I really think they just got used to walking all over Michigan because they got no blowback for it.
November 28th, 2016 at 11:03 AM ^
are made by the league office. Schools have no choice in who works their games That is the work of the league's officiating office headed by Bill Carolo, a former college and NFL referee.
While schools have no choice in who works their games, past experience issues with certain crews dictate how those assignments are made.
The league never wants an officiating crew to become the focal point of competitive issues or widespread claims of bias based on conerns about residency, fraternization or personal rooting interest. All of those concerns have become manifest in the wake of Saturday's game and fan review of the officiating crew's makeup.
. Crews are evaluated weekly by the league and schools are allowed to submit tape of calls they question in those games. They sometimes get feedback and more often don't.
Generally speaking, challenging officiating is never a good thing because it almost always goes nowhere and it doesn't do much in promoting better officiating in your games in the future. Essentially, you are calling out the integrity of the league. And if that's your aim, well, consider the league's integrity challenged in this case.
But do not expect any public response from any source in connection with anything that occurred officiatingwise on Saturday in Columbus.
November 28th, 2016 at 11:31 AM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
November 28th, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^
over the years, Big Ten officials can decline to work certain schools games because of perceived conflicts of interests for various reasons due to family connections at a certain school, education background, residency or personal and work ties.
During the course of his career, Dick Honig, who has lived in Ann Arbor and formerly operated a national officiating apparel business on Jackson Avenue in Ann Arbor, recused himself from ever working a Michigan football game because of hsi local residency . He never worked a game at the Big House, even though he was perhaps one of the most respected referees in college football for years. Today, he sometimes works the booth as a Big Ten review official. And has also been employed on game broadcasts by ESPN as a rules analyst.
There are few fulltime officials in college football. And the NFL doesn't even employ officials as fulltime employees. Like Major Leagues Baseball, the NFL employs officiakls as contract employees but they are not actually paid as fulltime employees.
November 28th, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^
Dave Witvoet was a Michigan fan that worked Michigan football games.
November 28th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
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November 28th, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^
FWIW, this was the same crew that did the MSU-OSU game last season as well as the 2013 B1G Championship game.
November 28th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
to me that osu took advantage of knowing these homers were calling the game and made holding part of their game plan as it started from the opening drive. maybe its time for delaney to retire and go sit in the suite at the Shoe on saturdays and count his money.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^
I don't want unbiased refs. No one is unbiased. I want refs who seek to be professional, fair and consistent. U of M got none of the above. If you are an admitted fan of a team, you should never officiate that team's games because your inherent bias will factor in, whether in favor or against that team because you are for them or over compensating to try to be balanced. In the EPL refs cannot be from the city of the two teams playing. This should be a simple fix, but Delaney.........