Knee-jerk Reactions: The Pac-10 joins the awful officiating party

1) New week, same story: I know it's not just me when I say that officiating across college football, and the rest of the sports world for that matter, has been inexcusably bad this year. Case and point, Taylor Mays attempting to behead Oregon State receiver James Rogers and the subsequent lack of yellow fabric in the offending area. Luckily, the Pac-10 actually understands that this kind of nonsense cannot occur and has suspended the oblivious referee. Not to be outdone, the SEC upped the ante with a pair of blown calls that had a direct impact in how the games played out. Exhibit A: Tennessee vs. Alabama...



Did you miss the absolute mountain of a man (AKA, Terrence Cody) tearing his helmet off in celebration after blocking the kick and while the ball was still live, because the officials definitely did. For some reason, the SEC claimed that said penalty was not an enforceable one (?). If the SEC says that's not enforceable, there is a pile of tape that shows players taking their helmet off in the field of play and being flagged 15 yards that would beg to differ. Moving on, Exhibit B: Florida vs. Mississippi State...



Note to all teams playing against Florida; you're not going to get a fair shake from the officials. Not a conspiracy theory statement, it's just a fact. The officials reviewed the interception returned for a touchdown, and still managed to blow the call. It was very clear that during his premature celebration, the Florida defender fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line and the play should have been ruled a touchback. What, didn't anyone tell the other SEC teams that Florida is going to be in the National Title game? That was determined before the season began.

At this point, the general ineptitude of officials has grown to a level where there will be ZERO tolerance for missed/blown calls in the future. Usually, if something like the Alabama/Tennessee helmet toss happens, it can be dismissed as it didn't really matter or that it was a bad call, let's move on. However, the shear number of horrid calls this year only amplifies the outrage surrounding a missed penalty like the one we saw in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. It scary to see awful calls becoming less of abominations, and more of the norm in college football.

2) The BCS/AP Pollsters still don't get it: Here's how it works; beat a better than average Tennessee team, lose your spot atop the polls. Struggle against, and use a garbage TD call to beat an awful Mississippi State team, we're #1!we're #1! Get it?

No? Good, neither do I.

I referenced the "fish memory" condition last week in regards to MMA fans, but now it appears that college football pollsters suffer from the same condition. It is the only logical conclusion to draw when top ranked Alabama beats a mediocre team and #2 ranked Florida beats a less than mediocre team, and they somehow switch spots. Did they somehow forget that 'Bama has actually stepped up to play decent competition while the Gators creampuff and pillowfight their way back to the National Title game? The only halfway decent game left on Florida's schedule is #22 South Carolina, who Alabama already dispatched in dominating fashion. Maybe Florida knew what I beginning to suspect about Tim Tebow and made their schedule accordingly. Cover your eyes Gators fans and Tebow jockriders, because this is about to get real.

3) Tim Tebow is badly overrated: Yeah, I'm going there. And yes, I'm aware that just a few weeks ago I wrote about how much of a pleasure it is watch Tebow play football. Yes, it is great to watch him play the game and I'm going to be a little disappointed when his college career is finished. My point is simply this; Tebow is not as amazing as everyone is making, and has made, him out to be. If ever you needed proof of this claim, just look at what has happened this year.

First off, get the concussion talk out of here; it hasn't changed the way he has played one bit. Tebow's problem runs much deeper than being negatively affected by a nasty hit. His problem is that he no longer has the high quality playmakers to make him look super-human than he once did. In one season, Tebow lost his three biggest playmakers to the NFL Draft (Harvin, Murphy and Ingram). Without the deep threat that Harvin presented, the quality slot presence of Murphy, and the attention that Ingram demanded in the middle of the field, defenses have been able to cheat up a little bit and key in on Tebow more. Granted, he does burn defenses for their overcommitment to crowding the box from time to time, but he does it far less frequently than in previous seasons.

Possibly the most important factor that contributed to the humanizing of Tebow is that SEC defenses now have piles of tape, and have had alot of practice to defend his style. If the front 4 can collapse the pocket, especially on the edges, Tebow gets a little jumpy in the pocket and takes his eyes off his receivers downfield. When he takes off, now most defenses have assigned a linebacker, or two, as a spy to make sure he doesn't get too far away. And with no real threat of a rushing attack other than Tebow, linebackers are freed up to either help on the slot receivers, or keep their eyes in backfield on the QB.

Nothing against Tebow; he's still a great player and should be a decent player at the next level. All I'm saying is numbers don't lie, and they've gone down significantly since he lost his big weapons. The Tim Tebow legend is exactly that, a legend. A fundamentally true story with some major exaggerations thrown in for good measure. He's great, just not as great as everyone has made him out to be.

4) C.J. Spiller is the best player no one ever talks about: Well, everyone except Todd McShay that is. Spiller was my dark horse favorite for the Heisman before the season began, and he's consistently worked his way up to serious consideration. With the major candidates (McCoy, Tebow, Bradford, Bryant) under performing, Spiller's 9 total TD's for a less than incredible Clemson team speaks volumes about how outstanding this kid really is. For a relatively undersized running back, he has decent power rushing ability to accompany his breakaway speed game. Will he win the Heisman? Absolutely not. I fully expect the ceremony to include McCoy, Tebow, Mark Ingram, Jimmy Clausen, and maybe Case Keenum with the trophy being gifted to Colt McCoy in sympathy for last year. It would just be nice to see the committee actually recognize one of the most outstanding players in college football this season, not just hand out invites to people because of past success. Check out McShay's list of Heisman frontrunners; outside of Noel Divine being top 3, he's got the right idea.

5) Free Dez Bryant!: It's good to see the NCAA wielding it's banhammer for something important. While Rich Rod runs his team into the ground in practice, Lane Kiffin violates recruiting rules, and USC looks the other way on numerous infractions by star players, the NCAA decides that a meeting with Deion Sanders is more egregious than anything else and suspends the Oklahoma State receiver for an entire year. Huh, I wonder why kids don't want to stay in college for 4 years before jumping to the NFL? Wait, maybe it has something to do with an overly judgmental board of fools more concerned with lining their own pockets with ideas like the BCS than the integrity and spirit of the game. Bryant was wrong for lying about what happened, but an entire year? We're talking about this kid's ability to make money playing at the next level, was this really necessary?

Which brings up another question; why is no one talking about what Terrell Pryor did? The Ohio State QB is fielding calls from LeBron James, which is pretty much on the same level as Bryant's "offense", but no one is talking about this. All he told the media was that JeBron encouraged him; who knows if that's really true? For all we know there was healthy discussion of potential agents and other subjects the NCAA is supposed to look down upon. Consistency NCAA, it's a glorious thing. There's bigger things happening in college football than Dez Bryant's little white lie. Maybe less time should be spent penalizing something a small as this and worry about the garbage officials that are ruining the game.