It was a little more than two years ago when the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns announced their move to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and departure from the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag]. Since then, crazy conspiracy theories have been thrown out there about the Big 12 trying to rob the Sooners and Longhorns.
One of those conspiracy theories was over officiating. Fans of those schools believe their teams have been unfairly officiated since announcing the move. In fact, after a couple of calls in the win over the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag], Sooner fans let their voices be heard as chants of “SEC” rang throughout the stadium.
Let’s take a look at what the numbers say.
In nonconference play, the Sooners averaged 7.3 penalties per game for 72.7 yards per game. That ranks No. 114 in the country. Since Big 12 play, they’ve averaged 6.7 penalties per game for 52.9 yards per game, good for No. 97 in the country.
The Sooners have actually been penalized fewer times in conference play than they were in nonconference play. I get the egregious no-call in Stillwater, but the numbers prove Oklahoma isn’t getting called for as many penalties since conference play began.
Their opponents in nonconference play were called for 7.7 penalties per game for 53 yards. In conference play, they’ve been penalized 5.0 times per game for 40.9 yards.
Brent Venables spoke about the officiating conspiracy theories in his press conference on Tuesday.
“I don’t believe in conspiracies,” Venables said. “I’m not going to give them an excuse. I’m not going to let anyone else give them an excuse either. The opportunity that I have around them, my challenge is not to put it in anyone else’s hands. Play clean. Do the little things right. Sometimes it’s going to go for you, sometimes it’s not. Keep playing, keep fighting, keep working, keep believing, don’t get distracted.”
That’s the answer you want your head coach to give. No excuses for why you lost a game. As you can tell, not only did the opponents’ penalties go down, but so did Oklahoma’s.
That nonconference number includes a game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves where Arkansas State was penalized 14 times for 111 yards. You take that away and Oklahoma’s nonconference opponents average 4.5 penalties for only 24 yards per game.
Are there some questionable missed calls in tight games, absolutely. Is it because there is some big conspiracy against the Sooners and Longhorns, I just don’t buy that.
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