It was a wildly entertaining night of college football Saturday night in a raucous Beaver Stadium. As if Penn State’s home victory against Auburn was not difficult enough as is, the Nittany Lions also had to overcome some questionable officiating from the SEC refs working the game. After the win, Penn State head coach James Franklin didn’t spend too much time lamenting the officiating in the game.
“We won the penalty battle,” Franklin noted in his postgame press conference’s opening comments. “That’s a whole other story for another day.”
Franklin was justifiably upset with a bizarre sequence in the second quarter where SEC officials on the field cost Penn State a third down by not having an accurate down marker on the field following a penalty for intentional grounding. Penn State ended up punting on third down because officials incorrectly believed Penn State was in a fourth down situation.
“I talked to all of them. They all agreed on the call and so did the replay,” Franklin said when asked about his conversation with the officials. “They all agreed. And I kept bringing them over and saying it’s not accurate. I don’t know what else I can tell you, but they all concurred with the officials. They got the headset, they talked to each other, they all agreed. They ran it by replay, they agreed as well. I don’t know what else I can do or what else I can say.”
Franklin can be justified in his angst as the SEC released a statement confirming their officiating crew did in fact cost Penn State a down. Later in the game, Penn State may have been robbed of a first down on a 4th and 1 play. PJ Mustipher took a snap and ran on a fourth down play and appeared to be able to pick up the yardage needed for a first down before the SEC officials blew a whistle. But the ball was marked short of a first down, resulting in a turnover on downs.
“I think it all comes down to ‘when did you think forward progress ended?’ That’s another one,” Franklin said after the game. “That was a tough one.”
Fortunately for Penn State, neither of those blown calls by the officials ended up costing Penn State a win.
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