Pac-10 Apologizes to Oklahoma, Suspends Crew

(WALNUT CREEK, Ca.) - The Pacific-10 Conference has suspended for one game the officiating crew and the instant replay officials that worked Saturday's Oklahoma at Oregon football game and apologized to the University of Oklahoma for the officiating on a key play in the game.

A review by Pacific-10 Conference officials of video of the game revealed that both the instant replay officials and the game officials assigned by the Conference made errors in the final minute and 12 seconds of the game, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said Monday.

An onside kick by Oregon after its first touchdown was touched by an Oregon player before it had traveled the required 10 yards, and the ball accordingly should have been awarded to Oklahoma at the spot of touching. Further, while the ball was determined to have been recovered by Oregon by the game officials, video shows an Oklahoma player actually recovered the ball. That aspect of the play is not reviewable by instant replay by rule.

The play was reviewed by the instant replay officials, who concurred with the field officials that Oklahoma had touched the ball with Oregon recovering and the play stood as called on the field.

A subsequent Oregon pass play on which pass interference was called on Oklahoma also was reviewed to see if the forward pass had been touched by a defensive player, thus nullifying the pass interference call. The replay officials ruled that there was not indisputable video evidence that the touching had occurred.

"The fact that the errors on the onside kick altered the outcome of the game is most unfortunate and unsettling," Hansen said. "We had a solid veteran crew assigned, and the instant replay official had a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10. We believe in the ability and integrity of each individual involved. It should be noted that not all of the seven officials were directly involved in the play in question, but the entire crew bears responsibility for every play. Game officials and replay officials have positions of great responsibility and must be accountable for their actions.

"Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, Coach Bob Stoops and his players. They played an outstanding college football game, as did Oregon, and it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating.

"Because of the ramifications, we are taking action against both the members of the officiating crew and the instant replay official and his assistant. Each individual will be suspended for one game, and their work in future games closely monitored.

"Officiating on the field is much more difficult than it appears from the stands, and certainly when watching repeated replays. Plays occur at a high rate of speed. Decisions on the field must be made instantaneously. The training and experience of officials at this level enable them to work at a high degree of accuracy. Unfortunately, at the critical moment of this game errors were made," Hansen stated.

"Further, the instant replay official is limited to the views of any play which is made available and must make a timely decision, although on the kickoff play ample views were available," he concluded.

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on air September 21, 2006 8:48 pm (Pacific time)

Thank goodness for "instant replay". cry a river, even the seahawks got screwed.

Anonymous September 19, 2006 6:59 pm (Pacific time)

I think he ment girls not girl.

John September 19, 2006 6:34 pm (Pacific time)

Amen Sue! Oklahoma fans need to lay-off Ducks fans and QUIT whining and crying about the game. It's not like the Ducks paid off the refs, or asked for this crew. What if it would have been a Big-12 crew? Would Sooner fans and their coach be such an up-roar? Probably NOT!! Or what if the situation was reversed. All you Sooner fans would just be at home, in your single-wide trailer, boxer shorts, no shirt,no shower,drinking Jack Daniels or Milwaukee's Best, looking at nude trailer trash girl on the net!(Make sure you have lotion next to you and not the preparation H!)Just move on, beat Texas, if you can, and then hope to see the Ducks in a Bowl game. Hell, Kansas, Baylor or Oregon State, could beat the Sooners this year!

Anonymous September 19, 2006 6:11 pm (Pacific time)

LSU got robbed by the refs in the Auburn this past week as well. I am not even a fan of Oklahoma nor Oregan so I am relatively unbiased, and since there is no RIGHT answer to the problem neither side is right, but in my opinion, Oklahoma should have won. Basically, they recovered the onside kick, they should have won, doesnt get any easier than that. Both teams played a great game, congrats to Oregon and congrats to Oklahoma. Neither team will get a national championship bid this year, and both will likely get a BCS bowl game bid anyway, so Oklahomas "Loss" in the game isnt as bad as it seems. People saw what happened, OU will not drop off the face of the Earth, trust me. Both teams will continue to do well. And in regards to the comment: "And I can tell you that the Ducks would have excepted it and not have complained about it" Are you kidding me? No team in America would let that slide... get real, dont be an idiot, your team played a good game but won the game because you got lucky with some horrible officiating. True, the Ducks played well enough to win, but when it came down to the final minute in the game, OU won the game, NOT Oregon. Thats not to say that Oregon wouldnt beat the hell out of OU in a rematch, or vice versa, both are good teams. One just got lucky and got a W because of it.

sooner September 19, 2006 3:48 pm (Pacific time)

Duck fans will say that they defeated the Sooners but the rest of the Country knows better. That game was corrupt from the first half as demonstrated by the poor calls on both sides of the ball. I wonder if this has anything to do with the game last year when the Ducks felt they should have had a BCS bid but had to play OU instead. And get owned! Let's play it again!!

Sue September 19, 2006 12:54 pm (Pacific time)

Where is the apology to the Ducks from the Pac-10? It is very common to have bad calls during a game of any sport. Unfortunately, there were many Saturday, not just the last two. Both teams made mistakes and both teams worked hard. I salute both of them as I enjoyed watching the game. The fact is the Ducks got the W. There have been games when the ducks were on the the losing side of official mistakes. That is part of the game. Oklahoma needs to deal with it. There is a whole football team in Eugene that deserves credit for their victory and that has been taken away by the media and the Oklahoma president.

torvan September 19, 2006 10:43 am (Pacific time)

My opinion is this-if we wanted to review every disputed call, football would be a slow slow game. We pay officials to make judgement calls, and so if they make a judgement call that others think is in error-let it go. We pay them to make those judgement calls, so let them do their job. The whole idea of instant replay is, in my opinion, a bad idea. It is saying to those officials that we do not trust their judgement. If they make a bad call, we can remove them as the Pac10 did. How will we know? Through other officials-just as we have in the past.

Steve-Albany September 19, 2006 10:18 am (Pacific time)

So, they suspended the officials. Well, that means they did some thing wrong....illegal? Maybe the officiating crew needs to criminally investigated/prosecuted? Or is the Pac 10 just caving to Oklahoma's crying.....like a big bunch of babies because they lost.

Armonsol September 18, 2006 11:23 pm (Pacific time)

The officials blew the calls, pure and simple. I've never seen a more crooked game in my life. The conference admitted it. OU was robbed. The Ducks will get crushed at USC anyway so get ready.

Anonymous September 18, 2006 9:27 pm (Pacific time)

You know what? The Pac-10 are bunch of wimps. We just have to keep on the good side of people don't we? Everyone who is invovled in sports, knows that the officiating is apart of the game. Sure we might have gotten the onside kick, but Oklahoma still had chances to stop us. Our last touchdown was a pass, they could have broken it up or something like that. We could have screwed up. Who knows? Yes, the calls got us the ball, but it wasn't because of those calls that we won. We won because we wanted it. And we shouldn't be taking this issue off the field. What happens happens, there's nothing you can do about it. You have got to leave it all on the field. There were some calls against us that helped Oklahoma, but you don't see us complaining about it. Eventually every game will be reviewed like this, and there will be no point in playing anymore. You just have to except defeat. You can't go crying every time you lose - Stoops. The Officials have complete power out there during the game, and what they say goes. This Hansen guy even said so himself that officiating is difficult. So sometimes there are mistakes, it happens in every game. I wouldn't be surprised if after all this, a bunch more complaints come in from all over the country on stuff like this. You have to realize that Oregon has lost to Oklahoma every other time they have faced each other. You don't see us complaining. What, Oklahoma has won seven times and we've won once, that's pretty good for Oklahoma. And you can't tell me that if the Sooners had been in the Ducks position, and all this happened, that Stoops would just turn around and say that we should have won and give it to us. He would have kept it. And I can tell you that the Ducks would have excepted it and not have complained about it. Bottem line is that this is stupid, and every Duck fan will say that we beat the Sooners 34-33, you just have to except defeat.

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