The 13th man!

[BanditVol]

We had to play the fizzleing refs also  

This has been discussed quite a bit below, and there were many blown calls, but ...

The "personal foul" on the 12th man.  WAS. NOT!   All they did was push his long hair hippy POS arse out of bounds!  What kind of chicken shizzle call was that?

And they missed a very clear offsides against Tamu early in the game.  The DE was 2-3 steps into our backfield prior to the ball being snapped.

Just atrocious.  

[BanditVol]

I say this because I am not about 60% through the tape. Thus the lateness of this paraticular post.   

[Creek Walker]

I have to admit that I was wishing ill towards "the 12th man" during the game when he was standing on the bench waving goodbye to Warrior, when everyone in the freakin' stadium, including him, knew full well that he should've already been ejected from the game at that point.

The officiating in this game was so bad that it was actually even more impressive that UT nearly overcame all the TOs to win.

[PirateVOL]

I have to admit that I was wishing ill towards "the 12th man" during the game when he was standing on the bench waving goodbye to Warrior, when everyone in the freakin' stadium, including him, knew full well that he should've already been ejected from the game at that point.

The officiating in this game was so bad that it was actually even more impressive that UT nearly overcame all the TOs to win.

he acted like a complete fizzleing JACKASS the entire game, on the field or off

[Tnphil]

Here's the deal for me.....Head injuries are the main focus point in football right now and going forward. You have refs on the field that didn't call it...you have officials in the booth with TV monitors that are instructed to look for it.....and now you have folks in the SEC office watching every game and not 1 of the 3 saw what everyone watching it on TV saw! Bull Turds!!

They will stop a game for 5 minutes to review whether a player went out at the 1 inch line before crossing the end zone....but don't even review something like Berry getting his bell rung. Unreal

[Black Diamond Vol]

The dude had white paint marks on the top of his helmet from hitting EB's facemask.  You'd think that would give it away.

[BanditVol]

Granny posted below that it's not called if a player is moving, targeting is only called if stationary.   That sounds like BS though, even if true.  It should not matter. But maybe, officially, it does?  Because clearly the long hair hippy POS tagged Berry right in the head.   

[Black Diamond Vol]

Granny posted below that it's not called if a player is moving, targeting is only called if stationary.   That sounds like BS though, even if true.  It should not matter. But maybe, officially, it does?  Because clearly the long hair hippy POS tagged Berry right in the head.   

If that's the case, the Warrior shouldn't have been flagged, either.

[PirateVOL]

Granny posted below that it's not called if a player is moving, targeting is only called if stationary.   That sounds like BS though, even if true.  It should not matter. But maybe, officially, it does?  Because clearly the long hair hippy POS tagged Berry right in the head.   

that is not what the rules state.  Either of the rules could have been applied to the hit on Berry.  However, only one of them is also part of the review process

[JeffCountyVolFan]

OK, I haven't seen the Berry hit (Directv and had a power flash right before that kickoff). From everything I've read, it was a clear target hit.   I agree with TnpHill, call em all and review everything that could be a target.  Nigel's hit, however, was targeting as I understand the rule. The biggest factor may well have been that he put his head down - his eyes were on the ground - little league players are taught to keep your eyes up and NW did not do that, thus allowing officials to assume that he was using the crown of the helmet as a weapon.

As for officiating, we all know what SEC officiating is. To claim that officials cost us that game, imo, is a sign of weakness. As I tell my son 'One way to spot a loser is to look for someone who whines about the refs.'. We lost that game because we could not take care of the football and handed TAMU at least 21 points.

As for the 12th man and his antics, I'd bet my hard earned wages that most Vol fans would think him awesome if he had been wearing orange. Personally, I do not like players who call attention to themselves. I'd much prefer for our players to level opposing running backs / receivers, help them up, then bury them again on the next play only to help them up again in order to redo the whole thing over and over. We know, however, that this isn't the way things happen today. Showmanship is applauded and this kid had his 15 minutes of fame.

Just my $0.02 worth.

[Creek Walker]

I haven't seen a single fan (not even on Volnation, and that's saying a lot) who has said that the refs cost UT the game.

That doesn't mean they can't be called out for their high level of sucktitude, however.

And, for the record, let me be the first to say that I'd still despise No. 12 if he was wearing orange. I really dislike players who behave the way he was behaving. Half of it is CBS's fault, of course, for keeping the camera on him.

[Tnphil]

All you want is it to be fair and equal both ways....if you are going to call pass interference one way on one team do so on the other team. Not even reviewing the hit on Berry was down right pi$$ poor when head injuries are in the fore front in college and NFL football....among other sports.

I've never been one to blame games and losses on refs.....I umpired high school, American Legion and quite a bit of college baseball for several years back in the 70's 80's and 90's and I've been called things that would make a Sailor blush....I always did my best to call it the same both ways even though the losing team hardly ever saw it that way.  

[JeffCountyVolFan]

That's what I was attempting to get at, I think. In most sports officials are doing their best - they make mistakes, like the rest of us, but some fans are always gonna see bias. If we look, we can find calls that could have been made against us that were not flagged. There are good officials and bad ones.

I coached secondary school basketball for more than 20 years and used to tell my players that when they played the perfect game they could criticize officials (never gonna happen). Coaches screw up, players screw up, and officials screw up.

Like I said, I didn't see the Berry hit but it must have been bad. That's a call that should not be missed - not with the emphasis on those type of hits and with replay having the option to intercede.

[BanditVol]

Definitely no one is saying the refs cost us the game, though they most definitely influenced it more than they should have with some blown calls.

I am just pissed at a few of the calls in particular, mostly the one where all our players did was push the hippy POS out of bounds.

And if you have not seen the game, don't underestimate the ability of the jackass to irritate.  I agree with CW, I would not want him as a Vol.  He made a couple nice plays, but he looks, and acts, like a complete jackass.  Do. Not. Want. 

[JeffCountyVolFan]

I saw the entire game, except for a very brief time around the Berry return when a power surge forced a reset of my Directv receiver. I just finished watching a clip of the Berry hit and there is no way that the replay officials shouldn't have booted #12 after that hit (even if all officials on the field somehow missed seeing it). His eyes were down, using the crown of the helmet to nail Berry squarely in the face mask. As blatant a targeting as you'll see, imo.

I agree that the unnecessary roughness call was a miss but they happen. Remember Gaulden's flop against Brandon Powell?

I was totally put off by Gillaspia.  He was obnoxious and irritating, made worse no doubt because I'm a Vol fan.

[tshadow]

I just saw the hit on Evan on sec in 60... That was clearly targeting. He actually got hit twice on that play. The first hit where he coughed up the ball should have been flagged. The second hit was incidental while the A&M player was going for the fumble.