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Oct 2, 2014
10:04:58am
ACC referees versus Virginia
I left the Virgina game feeling pretty sour about the ACC refs' job (I’m jaded from the BC game in LES so many years ago), and having only seen it in person – so I watched the game a 2nd time last night – taking notes on only the officiating. First, the refs' job wasn't as bad as I thought, and second, it was still pretty bad. I only looked at calls that could be controversial – holding, PI and a few others (no off sides or easy calls).

Bogus calls
1) Deondre Wesley was called on a drive-killing block in the back in the early going that just was completely fictitious. It wasn't even close. He dove at the defensive player’s legs, and whether it should be or not – it was a legal block.
2) Roughing the kicker. Bronco was told by the refs that it was called “running into the kicker” and not “roughing the kicker” because the Virginia player ran into the kicker’s non-kicking leg. Well, that’s completely wrong – as Blaine Fowler pointed out after the call. Not sure how it’s possible to get that one wrong on the field. The correct call would have sustained a drive for BYU.
3) I don’t care what Howell says – the contact between Praetor and the receiver on that final PI was so minimal that Bronco SHOULD have gone on the field at that point. Bogus call that led to a VA TD the following play.

Weak to Bogus calls
1) Robertson Daniel got called on two PIs that were just sooooo slight, if there was any contact there. In the first one, the receiver pushed off and initiated contact. I watched these several times, and it was really hard to see what would justify a call. On the second, the VA player took a dive and was bailed out.
2) The case against Tautu for unsportsmanlike conduct after his tackle “celebration” is weak – although I don’t know what he might have said to garner the reaction of the Virginia offensive lineman – but based on his actions – either he deserved no call or they both deserved a call, because the VA player’s actions were far worse.

Good calls
1) PI called on Skye Povey – was booed a little in the stands, but Povey clearly tugged his shirt. Just a note – not sure how the ref that threw the flag saw the shirt tug, as he was on the diametrically opposing side of the tug.
2) Lapuaho’s Personal foul was legit, and while many might applaud his nastiness for punishing his man for batting down the ball way after the whistle, it was a stupid, drive killing penalty.
3) JJ’s PI was legit, as JJ continues to get outplayed by Praetor and others.
4) A shirt tug versus Marcus Mathews was called correctly.
5) A block in the back by a Virginia player was called correctly.

No calls
1) Offensive PI versus Praetor should have been called, it stopped what might have been an INT
2) Good no PI call on deep corner routes by Blackmon and by Leslie – both were booed.
3) Probably a good no-call on the crucial run around the corner by Taysom, where the VA player grabbed the bottom of his helmet to pull him OB. I'm not sure what the rule is on horse-collaring is, but I've never heard you can't grab the bottom of the helmet.

All things considered, it was a pretty bad job by the AAC refs. The most depressing thing to me is that, of the controversial calls, very, very few seemed to go BYU’s way. Other conferences’ crews get it wrong (PAC12) often, but at least they appear to get it wrong both ways. Not the ACC. Also interesting – two back-to-back PIs that were, in my opinion, no-calls happened on VA’s final drive, with VA down by 15 and the spread at 14. Maybe the ACC's refusal to consider BYU as a P5 are a good thing, in that sense.
byu bcs buster
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byu bcs buster
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