Parting Shot from "Ref" Dan Capron: 'Harbaugh Acted Like 4th Grader' on JT Barrett Call
Not to add insult to injury with this post — but retiring thief, oops! I mean "ref", Dan Capron seems to have no problem doing so. The obvious vindictiveness of this guy should disturb anyone who hopes for fair and impartial officiating.
Link to Trib article.
February 10th, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^
Guessing here, so take it for what it's worth. Teddy went to Northwestern. He loves its academic reputation, and as a sports writer, was thrilled when it over-performed in football starting back in the Barnett days. Then there's Michigan which has a comparable academic reputation but has historic football (and basketball) programs that far outperform NU. My guess is that he thinks we aren't as pure as his beloved Cats. I also think that he sees himself as purely objective and when he simply states his opinion that Michigan is the 7th best team in the Big 10, it has nothing to do with his bias. Then, he sees Michigan fans get bent out of shape and dump on his email/Twitter, leading to confirmation bias: "See, Michigan is a bunch of thin skinned egomaniacs who can't face reality." That leads him to hate Michigan (and especially Harbaugh) even more, which leads to a vicious cycle.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
The refs were one-sided and it was bullshit. With that being said,
1) We should have made a -15 yard tackle on 3rd down and
2) M needs to eventually move on and beat them. It sucks, the players were probably cheated, but the focus needs to be current/future.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
The refs swallowed a lot that afternoon including the whistle on the holds that were about as many as the ytg on that 3rd down
February 10th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
Did the referees fumble on the 1 yard line, or throw a pick 6 from their own end zone?
Michigan gave that game to Ohio State, just like they gave the game to Iowa in 2016.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
It's not that hard to dissect. We blew that game, but the refs were also horse-shit in OSU's favor throughout the whole game (the JT call wasn't even close to being the worse call either). These things aren't mutually exclusive.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:56 PM ^
No the refs did not fumble at the 1, throw a pick.
However they didn't call a pf on the late hit by Webber that is also a targeting ejection call when he hit watson after the tackle and came back more than five yards to do so.
They watched Darboh get tackled while a ball sailed over his head and the announcer in a live broadcast say "what is going on.
They threw a flag on a contested overthrown ball that was uncatchable and body contact, not pi! IE the offensive player wasn't shielding and the defender was watching for the ball and contesting the attempt at a catch. Which again drew criticism in the officiating. 4th qtr 4 min left..
They threw a flag for def offsides and then a Personal Foul on our coach after not throwing a flag for false start on their offensive player. They gave a 1st down instead of making it 1st and 15 with a minute left in the 3rd.
3rd down ot play they didn't call holding 15yds behind the los. They didn't call 2 blocks in the back. They didn't call the
February 10th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
Welcome to the neg oblivion. This is a hill many have died on. Even with those terrible calls/non-calls we still should have won that game going away. IIRC every point they scored in regulation was the result of a turnover.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
The points they get were clearly altered by officiating as well. PI call on Delano Hill 4 minutes left in the game effectively changes the outcome. A no call as the many other no calls given to osu changes the game as they are forced to punt.
A penalty on their 3rd qtr drive for a td. 1st and 15 from the 18 the next play they ruled off sides 5yd to the 8yd line and then the pf on JH giving them 1st and goal at the 4. That is a 14yd difference.
Now add in they had to kick a fg just to tie the game with 1 second left on the clock and how the game changes on all of this.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
BIG10 officiating just got a tad bit better today
February 10th, 2020 at 8:54 PM ^
Let's not go crazy.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
I still haven't gotten over the Charles White "touchdown".
February 10th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
Yes, to me the spot is a big shrug compared to crap like that "TD".
February 10th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Michigan really needs to shrug off its reputation for being soft and rolling over on shit like this. Publicly tell the B1G that you will skip games and cost them millions of dollars if something as obviously shady as that game's officiating happens to us again.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
I actually found the article itself quite interesting on several levels not the least of which being:
1 The officials know the spread of the games they are officiating going in
2. He definitely implies that personal relationships with the coaches (or lack there-of) influences in-game calls both in what is called and as importantly, what is not called. He (and others allegedly) do NOT like Harbaugh.
3. Blamed ABC for not having a camera dead on the 15 yard line so replay of that infamous play from the 2016 game was rendered ineffectual.
To me he basically he affirmed just about everything we all posted here about that game being decided by the guys in stripes, not the players wearing helmets.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
Yup. His judgment in deciding to air these opinions of coaches when retiring does not speak well of him and only calls into question his ability, decision-making, and any conscious or even unconscious bias he may have.
It is rare to ever hear referees say things like this ON THE RECORD even when retired.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
Double bingo.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:02 PM ^
Bingo. This was my problem with his comments as well. You'd like to think refs would understand the emotions at play during games of this magnitude, and shrug them off somewhat, given the fact that there are sometimes nearly a century or more of rivalry history, millions of dollars, and whole careers and legacies dependent on the outcomes. But Dan Capron clearly does *not* allow for much leeway in this regard, given the fact that he's insulting Jim Harbaugh's intellect and maturity years after the fact.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
He allows leeway for Urban Meyer. Not for anyone else. Dan is a lawyer. I guess some coaches would be better clients than others. Nah, I am not insinuating anything. Just that, everyone is selling something.
February 10th, 2020 at 7:36 PM ^
Most if not all of these refs have huge egos and do not like to be shown up by coaches making way more money than the refs will ever see. This article shows how much their feelings about a coach slant their calls.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I certainly understand Harbaugh's frustration. You were on the precipice of ending Michigan's 15 year misery, the tide of the rivalry, the Big Ten title, the playoffs, all of it in the balance. That call absolutely could've gone Michigan's way, too. But at the same time, Michigan had no one to blame but itself for being in that situation.
-Couldn't wrap Curtis Samuel up on 3rd and forever, which doing so would've put OSU in an impossible FG situation with a kicker who was at least 0-2 on the day already, maybe even 0-3. Or go for it with an erratic passing game that Michigan had largely shut down all day.
-Speight committing god knows how many turnovers that led to OSU points.
-Couldn't get a single first down in the fourth quarter. Just one ices the game away.
-Delano Hil (at least I think it was Delano) committing PI on OSU's final drive in regulation, on third down, that kept their drive alive and led to the game-tying FG.
Moral of the story: sucks that it ended the way it did, and a case could be made for JT being short. But Michigan is responsible for putting itself in a position where the game had to be decided that way.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
If Hill committed PI on that play, then OSU absolutely committed PI on our 3rd down in the second OT. The two plays were carbon copies of each other, yet one was called and the other let go, which forced us to settle for a FG.
Yes, we made mistakes. But the PI double-standard was infuriating. And it seemed that every close call that day went against us.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
You're not allowed to say those things around here. When in doubt, blame the refs for everything.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
People say shit like this all the time on here.
Then people like you pretend like you're both heroes for being wrong and being called out for it.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
I've never really accepted that kind of argument about officiating. It sets the threshold for success higher for one team than the other.
Granted, coaches are going to tell their players to fix the mistakes that led to that point, yes. Make tackles, don't commit turnovers, etc. That's their job. And it was a razor-thin margin of a play that could've been avoided.
But in order to win, you shouldn't have to play well enough to win plus cover up for refereeing mistakes, while your opponent can play just well enough to get close and let the refereeing do the rest.
If something happens like a kicker missing a game-winning field goal, absolutely, I'm for saying "play better so it doesn't come down to that." Cause that's all on your team. The supposedly neutral aspect of the game, though, shouldn't force one team's threshold for victory higher than the other.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
That's the best explanation I've read on this subject. Well done and spot on.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
Everyone knows you have to win by 20 to win by 2 at OSU.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Exactly this. When two teams are very evenly matched, the game is almost always going to come down to little details, including mistakes your team made and mistakes the officials made. Since no team ever plays a perfect game, you're always going to be able to find areas for your team to improve, and if you're a coach, this is what you should absolutely focus on in a close loss, because that's something you and your team can control; officiating is not, so a coach should never focus on that with his team.
But we aren't coaches or players, so it's absolutely fair to complain about bad officiating. We should also acknowledge when we're the beneficiaries of bad officiating. We also need to keep in mind that, as fans, we're going to have an unavoidable bias towards believing the officials screwed our team. Every fan believes their team has been screwed over far more than they really have.
But no one, not even neutral fans, not even some Ohio State fans, disputes that Michigan got the bad end of a number of very important calls in the 2016 Ohio State game (and, in my opinion, the "JT was short" call wasn't even one of them, just a judgement call that could have gone either way). There are plenty of instances where complaints about officiating are misplaced because our fan bias is clouding our perception. This is not one of them.
A team shouldn't have to win by 21 to win by 3. And when the scales are so obviously tipped against one team, it's fine as fans to complain about it.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:02 PM ^
Well said. What's your house in Hogwarts so I can award it 50 points?
February 10th, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
Agree with this very eloquent argument -- can't upvote it enough -- except that in this case the bad calls weren't "mistakes".
February 10th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
Inherently, I can't disagree with what you're saying. I think at this point I've just decided it doesn't do me any good to go back to that game and think on what the refs did or didn't do. Its not going to change the result, and refs make mistakes in every single game. At least that's what all fans think for all their teams, anyway. Not saying refs didn't make mistakes, but everyone thinks their team specifically is getting screwed. Honestly, too, going back to that game brings a combination of anger and sadness for me, so I just choose to let it go and forget about it.
It sucks balls, don't get me wrong. Michigan probably should've won, and if it did, the narrative surrounding Harbaugh's time here (and perhaps the entire trajectory of the program) is far different than what it is now. The entire state of Michigan fandom could breathe a collective sigh of relief in knowing that beating a great OSU team can be done, and I think it would've led to more victories along the way.
But it didn't happen, and nothing we do here is going to change that. Nothing anyone does is going to change the result. All Michigan can really do is focus on the things it can control and find a way to beat them going forward. Because I can safely say the results against OSU from 2017-2019 are squarely on Michigan's shoulders.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
There is a link in the story that refers to a previous Trib story. It talks about the PI penalty with this:
"Some Michigan fans also complained about a pass interference call, claiming J.T. Barrett's pass to Curtis Samuel was uncatchable. (Have you seen Samuel leap? It was not uncatchable.)"
February 10th, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
Here's the simplest way I can put this:
If all the questionable calls went Michigan's way, they win this game by 20+ points.
If the game was called by the same standard (i.e. PI is the same for both teams), Michigan wins in regulation.
The questionable calls all went Ohio State's way and they won by 3 points in double OT.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
So maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I think this guy knows that Barrett was short. He doesn't even really defend the call, tries to throw the broadcast under the bus:
Of course the ruling on the field was that he made the line to gain (on fourth-and-1) and it was going to be a first down. The buzzers went off and it got kicked up to replay. I don’t know why the network didn’t have a camera right on the yard line. It was broadcasting malpractice. Because there was no camera on the yard line, there wasn’t a good angle to make the determination on an excruciatingly close call. I’m talking about within an inch. So replay couldn’t get a read on it, and they did what they’re supposed to do. The ruling on the field stands.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
These guys should STFU about controversial calls after they are made and reviewed. That would be the classy thing to do after a game is in the books.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
I'll be that guy --- the OP's title is incorrect. Per the article, Capron was calling Harbaugh a "4th Grader" as regards Harbaugh's unsportsmanlike penalty late in the 3rd Quarter. Not the Barrett run in OT.
And that 3rd Quarter call - I get it, Harbaugh was mad, this was right after the Speight interception. But throwing your play card out on the field usually invites a penalty.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
No, there already was that guy. Now you're just the guy making me want to run away and never post again. ;-)
February 10th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
I didn't see his post - my bad.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
two penalties. 7 yards. No active play penalties. In a game where the PBP announcer says "oh my goodness" on a pass interference that was not called.
JH was entitled to behave like a fourth grader. I wish those refs behaved with competence. . .
February 10th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
The Harbaugh of yesteryear would have already posted some cryptic tweet about this buffoon, but it appears the medication is working.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:57 PM ^
Well, at least he admitted the call was too close to be certain and the replay could neither confirm or deny the call on the field due to the camera angle. Now, if only we could get him to comment on the non PI calls. It's amazing how much one call could have changed the perception of UM, JH, and the rivalry.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
This article just confirms what we already knew about him
February 10th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
Never forget
February 10th, 2020 at 1:20 PM ^
And because you cant have one without the other.....
February 10th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
If that game had been played in A2, with at least two officials who were well-known as Michigan homers, who had made the same calls in favor of Michigan as the OSU crew did in favor of the Buckeyes, AND one of them tenderly patted De'Veon Smith on the ass, the city of Columbus would literally have imploded, but not until after Gene Smith and Urban Meyer had burst into flames.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
doublepost
February 10th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
I'm glad he confirmed what I have suspected for years now. They simply don't like him, and will do whatever they can within their power to stick it to him. No way we are ever going to get 50/50 calls in that game.
Harbaugh has never been the same personality wise since experiencing that screw job.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
Was this the guy who slapped Weber on the ass?
February 10th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
Now I’m even more pissed off on a Monday. Son of a bitch.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:17 PM ^
Gosh I'm so shocked