Whack Officials.

Earlier this week, when I read about Wisconsin Head Coach Bret Bielema taking issue with WAC officials working last night's game against Fresno State, I thought he was being ridiculous. Now, I've never paid attention to the ebb and flow of how officiating crews are designated, but it seemed to me that Bielema's request to have Big Ten officials working the game was absurd (particularly to me, since I hate the Big Ten). If Bielema believed that WAC officials would be biased, how could he possibly expect Fresno to agree to have Big Ten officials that might be biased the other way? If he simply felt that WAC officials were incompetent and unfit to officiate a game between two top 25 teams, which I think is more the reason why he did this, then he is clearly knocking the WAC. Inherent in the statement is the belief that the Big Ten is vastly superior to the WAC (CERTAIN PEOPLE, like me, might have something to say about that). Why would Fresno agree to that? These mid-major teams already have to fight so hard for respect, why would they possibly agree to this just to make the oafy Badger coach happy?

Either way, this wasn't happening........

Just to be clear, I don't think that Bielema was in the right with his request. Because of this, I wish that Devon Wylie's fumble in the third quarter had not been overturned. This was one of the worst calls that I have ever seen, and it totally validated Bielema's request. I can understand making a bad call at full speed, but this was an incredibly poor call ON A REVIEW.

I've looked on youtube for the video, and I can't find it. But, if you were asleep when this went down, you just have to trust me.

Devon Wylie clearly caught the ball, made a football move, and then lost it while he was still upright. When Pat Hill threw the replay flag, I immediately said out loud "that's a desperate move. Why would he waste a timeout right now? He should save it for the fourth quarter." The announcers echoed my sentiments, saying "well, he's going to lose a timeout here." The call was easy. Not only was there not conclusive evidence to overturn the fumble call, but there was conclusive evidence to affirm that Wylie had indeed fumbled. I was shocked when the call was overturned. For the first time in my life, I actually felt like a college football game was fixed.

As I've said, I can forgive any official for blowing a call at full speed. They're human, but I cannot overlook making such a bad call on a replay. The whole purpose of instant replay is to serve as a safeguard against human error. I've seen questionable overturns before, but this was the first time when I know that the overturn was flat our wrong. Should these officials keep their jobs? I really don't know....

In the end, no harm was done. Fresno State went right down the field and scored after that call, but, Wisconsin still won and covered.

However, a loss on Saturday would have almost certainly cost the Badgers a shot to play for the national championship. Although it goes against my anti-Big Ten bias, I really think that this is a team that is good enough to make it there. I think they're better than Ohio State, and they have been one of the few top tier teams that has impressed me each week. Last night was not a game that should have been a blow out. They were playing in California, at 9:30 PM their local time, against another top 25 team. That call, which took the ball from them in field goal range, could have ruined their season.

Again, I have nothing against the WAC. Fresno, Boise State, Louisiana Tech, Nevada...I have nothing but respect for these programs. I don't believe for a second that WAC officials take their jobs less seriously or are less skilled than Big Ten officials. But, this was horrible, and I'm very happy that it didn't change the outcome of last night's game.

Go Giants.




If you missed them, here are my NFL picks for today .