NFL and NCAA Referees

Any noteworthy calls (or missed calls) in any of the games this weekend? Talk about them here!

Any noteworthy calls (or missed calls) in the games this weekend?  Talk about them here!

Here is our weekly thread to sort out which officials are working which games for week 8.  We’ve got a few listed so far, but let us know as you learn of others.

There is a lot of talk about bad calls from this past weekend, but the play getting the most attention is when umpire Wilbur Hackett Jr. collided with South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia.  Depending on who you ask, it was either intentionally and very inappropriate, or it was just an unfortunate collision.

The SEC, along with SC coach Steve Spurrier, have cleared Hackett of any wrongdoing.  When I saw the play live, it looked that way to me as well.  If someone was coming at me, instinct would be to raise my arm and deflect the blow.

However, slow-motion replays tell a somewhat different story.  They make it look more like it was intentional, so I don’t know what to think.

The video is below.  What do you think?

Brian Urlacher, linebacker for the Chicago Bears, has been fined $20K by the league for “abusive conduct toward a game official”.

The words came following a bizarre play last week in which the Falcons fumbled the ball, the Bears recovered it, then they fumbled, and the Falcons got the ball back.  The result of that was a first down for the Falcons, because the ball had changed possession.  It was a confusing play, but it certainly seemed that Al Riveron and his crew took their time and made sure to get it right.

I guess Urlacher was just frustrated with the play, because the refs certainly got it right.

Other players were recently fined for similar incidents, including Miami’s Joey Porter, Denver’s Dre Bly and the Rams Richie Incognito.

Any noteworthy calls (or missed calls) in the games this weekend?  Talk about them here!

This week, I’m splitting the weekly post into two sections.  This one will simply cover the list of who goes where for NFL Week 7 (some are already up).  For discussion of bad/missed calls and other hot topics this weekend, I’ll create a separate post momentarily.

After Saturday’s 28-21 loss to Notre Dame, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh made it clear he wasn’t pleased with the officials:

We got a couple of bad calls. It’s hard to imagine people don’t know football any better than that. Maybe I’ll be swayed differently after I see the replay, but from what I saw on the field, I still can’t get over it. It was a really bad call. It should have been our ball and a touchdown for us.

Unfortunately for Jim, there were two problems with those comments:

1. The officials were correct.  Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen confirmed that the call was correct.
2. Pac-10 rules prohibit coaches from commenting publically on officiating.

I’m a big Jim Harbaugh fan, but he really should have kept his mouth shut this time.

Any idea who the head official was in that game?