I’ve waited to cool down before I posted anything on the game Saturday. It was by far the most disappointing game of the season. It changed my outlook for the final record back to 6-6 or more likely 7-5. However, I still see 8-4 as possible.
We screwed up at some key points. Warren’s dropped pass, the series of plays that culminated in the fumble in the EZ, and the 4th down conversion failures hurt badly. However, in light of the injuries, we didn’t play badly. We could easily be 6-1 right now.
I’m upset with the officiating. The fumble that AU got to keep and the PI call on the uncatchable pass weren’t just bad calls, they were game changing bad calls. I sat on a line that extended west from the first down stick & the ball on the two plays where we were not awarded the first down. I thought we had it the first time (when no measurement was taken) and I thought we got a bad spot on the 4th down attempt. There were just too many bad calls. It’s galling that this is 2 years in a row against Auburn. It’s awfully reminiscent of the 2009 (?) game when AU fumbled short of the goal line & we recovered but was awarded a TD. I don’t like blaming officials, but sometimes they need to get blamed. This is a game where their incompetence likely changed the outcome.
Regardless, I still like the trajectory of this team. I think we’ve got top notch coaches & recruiting looks good. We have a product to sell. At least football is interesting to me in 2021. It wasn’t so for about 3 years.
I feel the same way. Thankfully, we now play something resembling football and look to be trending upwards. Our kids are still a little too fragile to handle constant bad calls from officials on top of the stress of the game. Here’s hoping for a magical end to the season and really magical offseason in the portal!
I quit complaining about the officials a long time ago as there was little I could do about it but I fully understand others frustrations . The first time I see or hear examples like those mentioned Saturday , I have immediate flashbacks to Tenn in Liberty Bowl game and SMU in Dallas with the Pony Express. Bad calls occupy lot’s of a fans memory space. I do think of how it impacts those teams whose players have worked hard only to have this happen to them.
Warren’s dropped pass was big. He did not play a whole lot after that drop.
It was, by the way, the same guy who consistently made the bad calls/non-calls for interference. I can’t remember if he was the field judge or the back judge, but he was the guy in the area who did and did not throw a flag. I don’t know if we can get him blackballed, but he was awful.
I’ve been watching Razorback football for 60 years and can only name a handful of games where I thought we really got screwed by officials. And to be fair, I can think of some games where bad calls favored us. But two years in a row from officials in the Auburn game is really annoying. I could understand it better before we started using replays. Now it seems the replay officials are as bad as those on the field. Worse, because they have the luxury of several angles & the ability to stop, start, & slow the video.
Lighting striking twice in same place usually makes the national news. I agree that replays should protect us from that but even fumbles in back to back games are not the same. I saw the same stuff in Ole Miss\Tenn games. For SEC to have best football and worst referees should be subject of discussion with Stankey at his salary review time.
Does anybody think the refs were looking at the big screen when we suggested that last years call was a fumble (which it was)? Think that pissed the refs off a little and they took it out on the Hogs Saturday? Who knows, but I put nothing past the SEC refs or the SEC office in Birmingham.
I voiced the same thought. I think it has even more merit as I review the thoughts of others. Lightening striking twice in the same place usually gets noticed. We got hosed by calls and non-calls.
It’s normal for the SEC office to screw our hogs! It has happened numerous times ever since we joined the SEC! The hogs need to get to where they are good enough to beat the opponent and the refs!
Greg Stinkey and his replay folks in Birmingham can close shop they are just as stupid and bias as the ref’s that made the sorry calls.
There’s a phone number in the SEC office for the head of officials. I have called and left messages for several year with no response. I haven’t bothered to call this year. In my opinion it’s time for the AD and big boosters to apply pressure on those responsible to be held accountable. Cheating is suppose to be illegal but in the SEC it is tolerated and even worse backed by the SEC office! Tennessee got fined today for objects being thrown on the field. The hogs took the screwing in stride like always and this time there’s no wash, rinse and repeat form letter sent out by the SEC! Those refs were just bad and for away with it again.
IMO, there is not much that can be done about the on-field officials other than to replace them. However, it should be possible to clean up the mess that is the review process.
At least publish the names of the idiots in the replay booth in Birmingham! Let their name be trashed like they deserve them to be! I’m just tired of the Hogs not getting a fair shake especially with replay! The reason for replay in the first place was to get calls correct. Well it has not been getting that done.
He had n “F” on the back of his jersey (imagine that). He was on the Auburn sideline the first half towards the SEZ and on the Arkansas sideline the second half towards the SEZ. In my mind, that means that he botched two PI calls and didn’t call the PI call on the 2 point conversion when Burks was the receiver.
F is field judge. Lines up down one sideline, 20 to 25 yards from the ball normally. The side judge (S) lines up directly across from him on the other sideline, and the back judge is 25-30 yards deep in the middle of the field. So those three are gonna get most of the PI calls.