Game Thread #2 Ohio State vs #3 Clemson, 8 pm ET, Dec 28th in Glendale, AZ

[Redhawk]

Sucks but what are you gonna do?

1. Accept it and move on.
2. Wish we would never have to play Clemson again like some tsun fans vs OSU?
3. Whine for a decade about officiating like cryami?

I'll take option 1.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Gene Smith quoted as saying “we’re pissed...go ahead and quote me on it” to Pete Thamel.

I think the more underrated/underreported aspects of this is the cynicism Ohio State, and largely the Big 10 has with the current system.

Smith removed himself from CFB Committee bc he always had to remove himself from room whenever discussing OSU making playoff. He felt like they were getting fucked and wanted to replace himself with another Big 10 AD who could fight for the conference (OSU) so Iowa AD replaced him.

Obviously they deserved to be in this year but felt they got fucked on seeding moving to #2 seed after dominating the season (LSU is deserving of it, but the sentiment isn’t unfounded Big 10 took short end of stick.....again)

Then they were told it’d be an SEC officiating crew and they were skeptical. They didn’t like it.....wanted PAC 12 or Big 12. That’s where Ryan Day’s shots are coming from when he said he’s “angry about the game” and he thought “it was very strange”.

And all of this, in my opinion, traces back to Delaney rolling over like a lapdog when this was put together. He essentially told the SEC, ACC and espn that as long as the so-called sanctity of the Rose Bowl was protected they could get away with anything, and they cynically threw him that bone and then turned around and shanked him repeatedly on the things that really mattered since the playoff began.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Sucks but what are you gonna do?

1. Accept it and move on.
2. Wish we would never have to play Clemson again like some tsun fans vs OSU?
3. Whine for a decade about officiating like cryami?

I'll take option 1.

It's hard to accept a clearly corrupt system that leaves no margin for error for teams not in the sec or acc

 

[tacosman79]

It's hard to accept a clearly corrupt system that leaves no margin for error for teams not in the sec or acc

So what are we going to do....take our ball and go home?

Of course not, nor should we. We've gotten MORE THAN OUR SHARE of good breaks on close officiating calls over the years. Hell, it's one of the things we are famously known for. Ask any Miami fan about the PI, or any Michigan fan about the spot. This is just the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don't.

Us whining about it is NOT a good look.

And hell I'm going to enjoy watching LSU beat the snot out of Clemson anyways....

 

[Jagdaddy]

We had the better team. It is hard to swallow. Clemson is a great team, but we had a better coached one. We beat Clemson 7 times out of 10. We lose the three with the SEC fucking officiating crew and win the other seven with ACC, Big12, or PAC crews. Unreal.

I haven't seen this mentioned, and maybe I am just bitter. But I truly believe the SEC officials had a bias because anyone watching that football game clearly saw one team dominating the other, and the SEC crew did not want OSU beating their precious LSU asses. Refs take pride in the league they work for. I know several officials, and they want their league to be this and that etc. I seriously believe bias was a factor in the BS reversal of the scoop and score. They can go fuck themselves.

Do we know that the replay official is also SEC? Asking because to me the fumble overturn was the one truly egregious blown or biased call.

 

[scarletmike]

Do we know that the replay official is also SEC? Asking because to me the fumble overturn was the one truly egregious blown or biased call.

Yes, the entire crew was SEC for this game, and the full crew for the championship will be PAC ().

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

So what are we going to do....take our ball and go home?

Of course not, nor should we. We've gotten MORE THAN OUR SHARE of good breaks on close officiating calls over the years. Hell, it's one of the things we are famously known for. Ask any Miami fan about the PI, or any Michigan fan about the spot. This is just the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don't.

Us whining about it is NOT a good look.

And hell I'm going to enjoy watching LSU beat the snot out of Clemson anyways....

And I can accept bad calls on the field that go against us, but the utterly blatant bullshit from the replay officials can't be even understood by any interpretation of the rules. Either that booth was staffed with complete idiots who had no understanding of the job or they essentially threw the rulebook out the window to protect Clemson. I don't see any other explanations.

 

[Jagdaddy]

So what are we going to do....take our ball and go home?

Of course not, nor should we. We've gotten MORE THAN OUR SHARE of good breaks on close officiating calls over the years. Hell, it's one of the things we are famously known for. Ask any Miami fan about the PI, or any Michigan fan about the spot. This is just the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don't.

Us whining about it is NOT a good look.

And hell I'm going to enjoy watching LSU beat the snot out of Clemson anyways....

I agree that whining doesn't help, but using the Miami game, a game that never gets to overtime but for multiple egregious non-calls in Miami's favor, as an example undermines your point, whatever other teams' fans think. We've gotten some breaks against PSU, but otherwise we have not gotten "more than our share" of anything.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

So what are we going to do....take our ball and go home?

Of course not, nor should we. We've gotten MORE THAN OUR SHARE of good breaks on close officiating calls over the years. Hell, it's one of the things we are famously known for. Ask any Miami fan about the PI, or any Michigan fan about the spot. This is just the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don't.

Us whining about it is NOT a good look.

And hell I'm going to enjoy watching LSU beat the snot out of Clemson anyways....

Give me a fucking break. How about we start calling this shit out instead of pretending it doesn't exist? That is a reach with the cryami PI call because 1) It was a legitimate call 2) There were plenty of holding calls missed on them all game. Last night everything 50-50 went Clemson's way and that fumble was an indisputably bad call. Not to mention that Cryami game was before the conference wars began.

There are only 2 games in my life where I think the refs stole the game from us:
1) Last night
2) 2007 Illinois

Every other game I can accept we lost even with bad calls.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

And I can accept bad calls on the field that go against us, but the utterly blatant bullshit from the replay officials can't be even understood by any interpretation of the rules. Either that booth was staffed with complete idiots who had no understanding of the job or they essentially threw the rulebook out the window to protect Clemson. I don't see any other explanations.

to be fair SEC replays are handled out of Birmingham....so either of your explanations are likely valid

 

[billmac91]

And all of this, in my opinion, traces back to Delaney rolling over like a lapdog when this was put together. He essentially told the SEC, ACC and espn that as long as the so-called sanctity of the Rose Bowl was protected they could get away with anything, and they cynically threw him that bone and then turned around and shanked him repeatedly on the things that really mattered since the playoff began.

This 100%.

I’ve had this discussion with some close friends in ACC.

Delaney gets a lot of credit for bringing huge economics to college football, and his Fox Sports deal was legendary. It was stunning to ESPN. And the Big 10 Network was groundbreaking.

But in winning that arms race, he’s lost on the backend, where ESPN then saw the value in paying huge sums of money for things like the SEC Network, ACC Network, and then the CFP Playoff, which they own until 2025. And they paid billions for all of it. I can’t emphasize that enough....Billions and billions of dollars. They have a ton of skin in the game. It isn’t just about the playoff, it’s about the SEC and ACC being elite conferences. How do they make sure they’re seen as elite? They shape the narrative daily through their network......it’s state TV.

College football is politics right now and it sucks. The playoff was supposed to make it more “fair” but instead $$$$ has corrupted it. And last night is an indication of this.....even the thought that an officiating crew would be compromised towards a certain outcome for the betterment of their conference affiliation, because of conflict of interest in terms of partnerships, is a bridge too far.

I’ll use the analogy again....but would anybody trust MSNBC or FOX News to hold a fair election? Of course not. Why would ESPN, who is the powerbroker in the CFP playoff hold a fair playoff when they have a vested interest in the ACC, SEC, and their largest competitor Fox, is eating into their ratings on the backs of the Big 10? Fox and the Big 10 are financial threats to them....not assets. Forget about ratings OSU can bring in a single game...this is about the long game. A weak Big 10 and elevated SEC/ACC is a financial win for ESPN.

2025 will be very interesting....Big 10 has learned a lot in the last few years and there’s a lot of hurt feelings/battle scars. If you talked to Gene Smith candidly right now, I’m not sure he’d even be in favor of the Big 10 being in the bowl arrangement period. They’ve been bent over a barrel.

 

[Onebuckfan]

Now don’t get caught up on N. C . Fever if we win fine ..the first 13 are real a contrived CFP is not.

 

[billmac91]

I agree that whining doesn't help, but using the Miami game, a game that never gets to overtime but for multiple egregious non-calls in Miami's favor, as an example undermines your point, whatever other teams' fans think. We've gotten some breaks against PSU, but otherwise we have not gotten "more than our share" of anything.

The other, more glaring aspect to this, is there was no incentive for ABC to influence that game.

A machine using formulas picked the (2) championship teams.

In today’s world, where corporations have spent billions of dollars on conferences, TV stations, bowls, and college brands........it's impossible not for them to be biased in the interest of protecting their investment.

 

[Onebuckfan]

The other, more glaring aspect to this, is their was on incentive for ABC to influence that game.

A machine using formulas picked the (2) championship teams.

In today’s world, where corporations have spent billions of dollars on conferences, TV stations, bowls, and college brands........it's impossible not for them to be biased in the interest of protecting their investment.

Ian afraid this will send Day to the NFL if it happens next year.

 

[OHSportsFan]

There’s a screen grab of Dobbins wide open on a checkdown instead of Fields airing it to the endzone. I won’t post here but it will haunt me for a long time.

we’ll beat Clemson someday...right?