Tag: Big 12 officiating

‘I thought that’s what interference was’: Brent Venables, Drake Stoops sound off on no-call

Brent Venables and Drake Stoops sound off on pass interference no-call after loss to Oklahoma State. A day later, it still doesn’t make sense.

There’s no way to sugarcoat what happened to Drake Stoops in the end zone. He was the victim of assault. But if you ask the Big 12 official just feet away from the play, he’d be a terrible eyewitness.

Don’t call him to the stand.

Stoops was having a career game. And that was an opportunity for him to put an exclamation point on a Bedlam performance for the ages. And the official observing the play robbed him of it.

It wasn’t the only questionable no-call in coverage; Oklahoma State got away with a great deal on Saturday.

“I felt like I was getting held on the out and up,” Stoops said. “I ran out a couple times, but they didn’t call it.”

Oklahoma State defensive back Dylan Smith was as shocked as Stoops, Brent Venables, and Oklahoma fans.

Smith didn’t celebrate once he popped back up on his feet. He stared at the referee for a brief moment instead, almost as if he was expecting to be called for pass interference. – Justin Martinez, The Oklahoman

More: Social media reacts to pass interference no-call.

It was such a head-scratching moment that the ESPN rules analyst was baffled by the no-call. Venables didn’t mince words on the failure of the officials saying, “I thought that was what interference was.”

It was pass interference, Coach. Though Oklahoma could have played better in other moments for it to have not mattered, the fact of the matter is that the no-call mattered.

Instead of kicking a field goal to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to three, the Sooners would have had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line with a chance to take the lead.

Instead of being down three in the final two minutes, the Sooners would have been up one and putting the onus on Alan Bowman to go win the game.

And we’ll never know how differently the game would have turned out because the Big 12 officiating crew kept the flags in their pockets. And in that singular instance, kept the Sooners from having a chance to win the game.

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Social media reacts to uncalled pass interference on Drake Stoops in Sooners’ loss to Cowboys

The Big 12 officiating crew failed to call a blatant pass interference in the end zone in Oklahoma’s loss to Oklahoma State and here’s how social media reacted.

It’s easy to overlook officiating when it doesn’t have a direct effect on a potential game-winning drive. But what happened in the end zone as Drake Stoops battled an Oklahoma State defender was an egregious injustice to the game of football.

On the crucial third-and-12 late in the game, Stoops was tackled in the end zone with a Big 12 official right there to witness the play. No flag was thrown. Instead of getting the ball first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, the Sooners were forced to settle for a field goal.

There were numerous plays the Oklahoma Sooners left on the field, and there are always plays that could have gone either way. But with the game on the line and Brett Yormark on hand, the Big 12 officials failed to throw a flag on an obvious pass interference. And it had a direct impact on the outcome.

Instead of getting first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, the Sooners had to attempt a comeback in the final two minutes. Instead of leading with less than two minutes to play, the Sooners were trailing. And the officials were a big reason.

It was an unfortunate ending to a rivalry that dates to 1904. Bedlam deserved better than that.

And here’s how social media reacted to the defensive pass interference no call.

Over/Under: Predicting individual stats for the 2023 football season

Texas foes were called for one holding penalty all season against the Longhorns. We predict that total and more for the 2023 season.

The 2023 season is just over six weeks away. We’ve made broad and overarching predictions, but today we’ll get into the weeds.

Small details determine close matchups. That’s what we’re looking at with Texas and company heading into 2023.

Though teams can and should overcome poor officiating, blatant missed calls can swing a game. In 2023, Texas’ Big 12 opponents were called for just one holding penalty all season. Some would argue, “There’s holding on every play.” That’s not really the case, but there are clear and obvious holding calls that officials missed last season. And they missed them over and over again.

One of the more obvious examples of one-sided officiating came against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys received 14 penalty calls in their favor while being flagged a grand total of zero times. Can we call 14-0 a ratio?

Let’s predict how minute details of the season will unfold for Texas.

Social Media Reacts: Big 12 officials inexplicably pick up personal foul flag, leading to WVU TD

Officials in the Oklahoma-West Virginia game made a strange decision to pick up a personal foul call, ultimately leading to a WVU TD.

It’s been a tight ball game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Sooners defense has had some good moments in the contest, so good that West Virginia turned from quarterback J.T. Daniels to Garrett Greene, who has provided a spark.

With the Mountaineers driving, Oklahoma forced West Virginia into a fourth-and-15. After a Sooner jumped offsides, Garrett Greene had a free play and took a shot to the end zone, overthrowing his intended target. C.J. Coldon tracked the ball well and picked off the ball in the end zone. He was giving himself up and kneeling in the end zone for a touchback when a West Virginia wide receiver came in and delivered a headshot to the kneeling Coldon.

An official threw a flag immediately on the play, but after a discussion, the crew decided, for some strange reason, to pick up the flag. That turned what should have been fourth-and-30 into a fourth-and-10. The Mountaineers picked up the first down and eventually scored to tie the game at 20.

It was as egregious of a decision as an officiating crew has made and it had a huge impact on the complexion of the game.

Let’s address the ‘Horns Down’ comments at Big 12 Media Days

The internet was in shambles again on Thursday when ‘Horns Down’ was once again talked about. It’s time for Texas fans to address it.

‘Horns down.’ Without a doubt, a topic brought up every single time at Big 12 Media Days. A tradition becoming so prevalent, Aggies would be proud.

The internet was in shambles again on Thursday afternoon when the gesture was once again talked about.Β  Big 12 officiating coordinator Greg Burks was asked a question about how teams would be penalized if they flash the gesture.

“If you do a Horns Down to a Texas player as an opponent, that’s going to be a foul.”

Well… yeah. That kind of makes sense. This would be Taunting 101 and is not mutually exclusive to Texas and their hand gesture. Rarely has a player ever been able to get in the face of another player, taunt them, and get away without a 15-yarder.

Burks even went on to say later that flashing ‘Horns Down’ in front of the crowd would “probably” not be a penalty.

Soft is how most people would describe this, thinking it would offend Longhorn fans throughout the country. The idea of doing a simple gesture being a 15-yard penalty makes the University of Texas look like cry babies.

Soft or not, not calling a penalty is inconsistent from examples we have seen in college football throughout the past.

In 2017, Tennessee running back John Kelly got flagged 15 yards for a hardcore ‘Gator Chomp’ in the Swamp against Florida after scoring a touchdown. It was not to any of the players, just the crowd.

Texas A&M was a victim of a gruesome ‘Thumbs Down’ in 2011 against Baylor after a Robert Griffin III touchdown pass to Tevin Reese.

Ole Miss famously lost the 2019 Egg Bowl because Elijah Moore decided to act like a dog using the restroom after scoring a touchdown. One missed extra point later and the Rebels had a new head coach in Lane Kiffin.

There could be plenty more examples throughout college football.

I can speak on behalf of every Texas fan not named Tom Herman and Sam Ehlinger: We don’t care if a team does ‘Horns Down’ or not. Let UT fans throw it up, let everybody else in the country throw it down.

Big 12 officials having to comment on this topic every year is getting ridiculous. Talking about this for a few years now is getting repetitive and everyone is over it.

Let’s just play some football while still having some fun.