Review of Outback officiating kept secret
By TOM WITOSKY
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2006
Conference USA officials have completed their review of the controversial officiating of the 2006 Outback Bowl, but won't make the conclusions public.
Russ Anderson, assistant commissioner for media relations, said the review's results will be kept confidential in compliance with the conference's policy regarding all reviews of game officiating. A Conference USA crew officiated the Outback Bowl.
"We review the officiating in every football game in which we have a crew," Anderson said. "But we have never made those reviews public and won't this time."
Anderson indicated that the report has been shared with others, but wouldn't say specifically to whom the report had been given.
A spokesman for the Big Ten Conference said he wasn't sure whether the conference office had received a copy of the report.
Several calls during Florida's 31-24 victory over Iowa on Jan. 1 set off a firestorm of criticism and controversy among Hawkeye fans. Much of the furor surrounded the offsides call from an onside kick near the end of the game.
Replays appear to show that no Iowa player was offsides on the play and Iowa should have been allowed to keep possession of the ball with a little more than 1 minute left in the game.
Gerald Austin, coordinator of the Conference USA officials, told the Des Moines Register last week that a penalty should not have been called.
Austin also said there were four other plays to be reviewed, but declined to say which ones. The crew was criticized during the game by television commentators for failing to flag Florida for having too many men on the field, as well as a roughing call at the end of the first half.
Anderson also said he didn't know if any member of the officiating crew had been sanctioned.
Bob Bowlsby, Iowa athletic director, said Tuesday he has not seen any report regarding the officiating in the game and doesn't expect to receive one.
"This is a situation where the conferences will handle it and we will move on," Bowlsby said.
But Bowlsby said the controversy will likely spur bowl officials and the various conferences to review how officiating crews are selected.
"The best we can do now is improve on the process for selection of officiating crews to make sure we are doing what we can to avoid these situations in the future," Bowlsby said.
NCAA officials told the Register that the topic of crew selection and evaluation will be part of the NCAA's spring meetings.
