If you don’t know what I’m talking about from the headline then you’re either not a college football fan or you live under a rock. Last night Purdue went on the road to Minnesota and played what would’ve been an all time classic. If it wasn’t for a referee.
Jack Plummer started in place of an injured Aidan O’Connell, Rondale Moore made his season debut, and it was two high powered offenses squaring off against two aggresively medicocre defenses.
For the most part it was an incredible game. Drive after drive big play after big play (on offense anyways). Plummer threw for 367 yards, Moore brought in 15 catches for 116 yards, and David Bell added eight more catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns. On the Minnesota side, Mo Ibrahim rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Autmen-Bell also caught five passes for 129 yards.
Unfortunately, the officating in this game decided the players were getting too much of the spotlight and needed to take back the game.
What Happened?
Late in the fourth quarter Purdue’s defense made only their second stop of the game. That turnover on downs led to a missed field goal by JD Dellinger, another Minnesota posession, and another big stop for the Purdue defense.
The stage is set, Purdue has the ball trailing by three with just under three minutes left in the game. The drive starts with a near interception that Bell stripped away and actually ended up catching for what would’ve been a first down. However, because a Minnesota player who was out of bounds touched the ball before Bell could catch it, the play was ruled dead and it was an incomplete pass.
The rest of the drive goes as follows. 13 yard pass to Milton Wright. Five yard pass to Payne Durham. Zander Horvath three yard run. Six yard reception by Moore.
First and 10 Purdue on the Minnesota 19 yard line with less than a minute to go. Plummer drops back in the pocker and lobs one up to the endzone where Durham is running a corner route and he catches it for the touchdown. 37-34 Boilermakers pending the PAT and Minnesota is getting the ball back to see if their offense has one last drive in them. Or so we thought.
Not So Fast
In the words of Lee Corse, “not so fast my friend.” One of the Big Tens glorious officials called offensive pass interference on Durham, the play was reversed, and Plummer threw an interception on the next play.
That play was the farthest thing imagable from offensive pass interference. If a tight end ran that exact route the exact same way 1,000 times over, it would never get flageed. But Durham must’ve ran it for the 1,001st time becuase he got called and the referees decided the outcome of the game.
Just watch the video. This play was executed to perfection. It was textbook. In what world is that pass interference on the offense? Long before the flag was even thrown Durham stuck his arm out a little bit but on the still shot the Minnesota player has two hands on Durhams arm. I don’t care how many boats you row to the games, that’s a touchdown and you know it.
Then for what it’s worth, watch the whole replay and you’ll see Plummer get rocked long after he throws the ball. Roughing the passer maybe?
Something Has to Change
I don’t understand how year after year football officiating, the Big Ten specifically, can get worse and worse. Maybe it’s because referees like this stooge are never held accountable for doing a piss poor job. People like to use the excuse that referees have the hardest job in sports but I call bullshit on that.
A referee gets yelled at by fans, coaches, and players but that’s the extent of it. They don’t have to face the media, they don’t have to give reasoning for a call, they simply change clothes and go to the next destination with zero accountability. I know for a fact if you or I were bad at our jobs we’d get fired. If Jeff Brohm or PJ Fleck were bad at their jobs they’d be fired. If Tanner Morgan or Jack Plummer were bad at their jobs they’d be benched. Referees don’t only get to be bad at their job, they get to be bad at it and keep it with little to no punishment.
That officaiting crew should never be allowed to watch the game of football again on TV much less referee a game. Ban them from the game for life. Grab any stooge off the street and let them call a game. The outcome couldn’t be any worse than what we’re seeing year after year in the game of football.
Bring in the Robots
Pass interference is the most game altering call in football and year after year we can’t get it figured out. The NFL tried to fix it. They let PI calls be challenged for a year but even in clear cases of PI or clear cases of nothing, the call was almost never reversed. Which just goes to show the ego that’s involved in these decisions. Referees need to be held accountable in the same we hold coaches and players.
If officials can’t be objective in decisions then I think it’s time to bring in the robots. Is human error part of sports? Yes. Is human error part of what makes sports exciting? To an extent. But calls like the one last night just shouldn’t happen.
You can say all you want about Purdue leaving points on the field, making their own mistakes, and whatever else. But when the game is on the line like that you have to be able to trust the officiating to let the players determine the game. It’s getting to the point where we can’t do that. You know you messed up when sports books are refunding bets because the call was so bad.
The Big Ten, the NCAA, the NFL, and all other parties need to figure out this referee situation. It’s only getting worse. Great games can not be decided by some stooge with an ego.