Is it possible to avoid a John O'Neill ref crew?
I love all sports referees. I think that all too often they get a bad rap undeservedly. They make split-second rulings on subtle issues, and slow-motion replay usually backs up their decisions. Generally speaking, I'm not a ref hater.
But John O'Neill's crew tests my faith. He just always seems to rule with a thumb on the scale against Michigan. I don't think the guy is "on the take." Rather, I think it is probably something subconscious that leads him to tilt the game against us. He's probably a nice guy in real life, and I'm sure he's a good ref in a lot of respects, but I don't think we will ever get a well-called game from him.
That said, does anyone know whether it is possible for Michigan to ask the BigTen to use a different ref squad for our games? Why do we always seem to get O'Neill's crew, are crews assigned randomly? Can anything be done to block his crew from calling our games? Lastly, is there anyone out there who disagrees with my premise and thinks that O'Neill's crew actually consistently calls Michigan games fairly?
I'll hang up and listen.
September 11th, 2021 at 9:44 AM ^
Officials are hired and assigned by leagues, not teams, for league games.
In the past, there was a tradition of officials from the visiting school's conference to work non-conference games--but there's been a recent trend toward officials from "neutral" conferences. I'm not sure if this has ever been formalized or is/was a "tradition."
It sometimes doesn't matter. There was an epic blown call on a fumble that cost Michigan a touchdown and ultimately the game in the 1979 Rose Bowl. The Pac10 umpire had the correct call (fumble by USC), but was over-ruled by head linesman, Gilbert Marchman from the B1G. Marchman was closer to the play, so the referee went with his interpretation and gave USC a touchdown. (Fun fact: Marchman became the first African-American crew chief in B1G history)
As others have noted, sometimes refs miss things because they're human...