Pac-12 suspends referee after egregious mistake during Washington State vs. Cal

[JDM]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/pac-12-suspends-referee-after-egregious-mistake-during-washington-state-vs-cal-game/ar-BBWyKg6?ocid=sf

[ilyazhito]

How do you manage to do that? I'm suprised that nobody brought up that "Gold fouled", or the foul is on K. Was the foul reported to the Referee incorrectly, or did he screw up on his own.

[TxBJ]

I think the referee was the one who had the flag so others probably didn’t know to correct him.

[dammitbobby]

Surely the LJ/HL was getting a complete earful from Leach though, and should have at least radio'd the ref to confirm?

[TXMike]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/13/mystery-solved-how-washington-state-was-penalized-incorrectly-and-lost-57-yards-in-field-position/

[Magician]

This is the type of foul nobody else on the field may see so they really can't argue it didn't happen. It's not like a hold or block in the back at the point of attack. The number could have been a clue to the WSU coach, but how often do we get the wrong number, especially the number of the person offended rather than the one committing the foul.

This is a concentration error, but one any of us could and probably has done. Once players spread out on a kick you have to concentrate enough to remember who was the kicking team and who was the receiving team. I've lost track of that more than once especially if the kicking team is doing something you would more likely expect the receiving team to be doing (holding/block in the back).

[Kalle]

The only thing I can think of that might help here is to move away from announcing offense/defense (both internally within the crew and to the others via microphone). If you announce the jersey color, you might get less of these types of errors. Fortunately they are very rare, though.

[Punter]

I disagree.  As an R I only want to hear offense, defense, kickers and receivers.  Nothing is worse than jersey color.  I orient myself on the field based on offense, defense, receivers and kickers.  At the beginning of the play, I know I am with the receivers so when someone tells me receivers, I know which way to point.  I get discombobulated on the field when someone gives me a color especially at the end of the kick play when all the players are moving around.  The last thing I want to think of before an announcement is which color was the receivers or kickers.

This particular issue does happen, especially when it is a foul that the receivers normally commit.  This is not unusual at all to get confused on kick plays.  I train myself as part of my pre-kick routine to say to myself, I am with the receivers, or on a punt, I am with the kickers (then I try to remember which team they are as well). 

This is actually a hard thing on kicks that non-Rs do not get.  This year, I had an official on a kick (punt) report a color to me instead of saying kickers and receivers, and to complicate matters there were two fouls on the play.  I ended up pointing the wrong way which created havoc that we did not need.  I know that I should remember who kicked and received, but when you are processing 2 fouls, 2 numbers, which penalty is more advantageous, and all that stuff it's hard.  Sometimes, it is even harder when it is your own foul to remember everything especially numbers. 

At the end of the day the R owns the announcement and enforcement (especially if it his his foul) so there can be no excuses.  However, this really could happen to anybody.

[centexsports]

I would consider this to be one of the more egregious errors I have ever seen (at least in the top three).  Not a knock on the R, I have pointed the wrong way and even marked off the wrong direction but we have always caught it.   I might have stopped the game after the first play and corrected the error (assuming he really did know it after just one play).   

Question:  Since the R has full authority to do the RIGHT thing shouldn't he have been able to cancel the next play and correct the error?   I think I would rather be written up for that than costing a team 57 yards to start a new series.

[TXMike]

 The rules say can’t change it  That being said I recall at least 2 times plays where a change was made after the next play and the soup and RR seemed to be okay with it

[ElvisLives]

Kalle, a rarely as we disagree, I have to also disagree with using colors, for the exact, and well stated, reasons offered by Punter.  I believe it is much better to use Offense/Defense, Kicking Team/Receiving Team, Passing Team/Return Team, Fumbling Team/Return Team.  On routine scrimmage plays with no change of team possession, this is rarely a problem.  But, when there is a change of team possession during the down, and on kicking downs, we need to know those true descriptions, because penalty enforcement for each foul is dependent upon the team that committed it.
I had a situation recently in which an return (intercepting) team had three live-ball fouls during the same down - one prior to the interception, and two afterward.  One guy on my crew failed to use the proper description, and it seemed like we had fouls by both teams, so I was trying to figure out if "clean hands" applied.  After a few moments of trying to figure things out, the one guy re-reported that his foul was by [team name].  With that, I realized all three fouls were by the return (intercepting) team, so there was only the decision about which of those to accept, which turned out to be offside, to give the ball back to the passing team, penalize, and repeat the down.  The penalties for the other fouls would have required allowing the return (intercepting) team to keep the ball, which were obviously not going to be accepted.
It would have helped immensely if he had initially reported that his foul was by the return team, during the return.

The CCA manuals permit the use of a jersey color (or offense/defense, etc.) when reporting a foul.  But I highly recommend avoiding the use of a jersey color.

As much as anything, though, don't report and run away.  Stay nearby, in case the R needs more info from you.

Robert

[JasonTX]

The only thing I can think of that might help here is to move away from announcing offense/defense (both internally within the crew and to the others via microphone). If you announce the jersey color, you might get less of these types of errors. Fortunately they are very rare, though.

  Around here we'd get accused of being racists if we used colors.

[ElvisLives]

  Around here we'd get accused of being racists if we used colors.

If anybody thinks that was a joke, they are seriously mistaken.  It is sad, sad reality.

Robert

[bama_stripes]

On a lighter note, I’m guessing that the writer of that article gets paid by the word....