Early in the fourth quarter during Oregon’s Saturday loss to Cal, Ducks quarterback Tyler Shough handed the ball to running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio on third-and-short on Cal’s 19-yard line. Habibi-Likio ran up the middle for a gain while appearing to nearly breach the first down yardline. But as the line judge ran in from the sideline to spot the ball, he settled almost two yards back from what seemed to be the most obvious spot. The next play, CJ Verdell ran for a no-gain, and Oregon turned the ball over on downs. They lost an opportunity to take the lead, and eventually the game.
The Pac-12 officiating team has taken criticism from the media for their underperformance in past years. This year is no different. The past few weeks of Oregon football, as well as other games around the Pac-12, are riddled with officiating miscues. But why does the Pac-12 continue to settle for this sub-par standard?
In November 2019, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott admitted to The Oregonian that “there are a significant number of mistakes every week,” in regards to the officiating. He also said the performance was “comparable” to other conferences and was improving with time. In the same interview, he also claimed the Pac-12 was working on transparency for addressing when its officials made mistakes and how they could be fixed.
However, Scott’s comments on the poor officiating are absent in 2020, leaving fans wondering if the situation will ever improve.
Earlier in the summer of 2019, an independent review of officiating conducted by Sibson Consulting found the Pac-12 officiating to be “fundamentally sound” while offering a “series of recommendations to strengthen the program.” One of such recommendations was to remove Woodie Dixon, the football administrator, from any involvement with the officiating. That previous season, Dixon called the replay center at the USC-Washington State game and overturned a targeting call from his own home, according to John Canzano of The Oregonian.
This meant head of officiating Larry Coleman, a 2015 hire, would report directly to commissioner Scott. But the move that acted like a step in the right direction was flawed. When Coleman was hired in 2015, both he and the conference were scrutinized based on Coleman’s gross under qualifications. According to Mercury News, Coleman was an NFL replay official and a referee in the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference and the Mid Atlantic conference, but lacked any experience officiating for a power-five conference.
In light of recent miscues, The Seattle Times reported that the heads of officiating for the other four power-five schools all have double-digit years of experience either in the power-five or NFL, and all have experience in either NFL Super Bowl or FBS bowl games.
It’s unlikely Coleman is the sole reason for the continued decline in performance, but Scott hasn’t provided any further discussion of his officials, so it’s difficult to pin blame.
Whoever’s fault they may be, the mistakes are glaring, and seem to happen almost every week. With Oregon State on the 1-yard line in the Ducks’ rivalry game a few weeks ago a missed offsides call nearly cost Oregon State their upset over the Ducks. Oregon State was the victim of an abysmal spot on a fourth-and-inches play in their game against Washington, which resulted in a turnover and eventually a loss. Several other missed calls proved the Pac-12 officiating situation hasn’t been improving. Every team in the conference has experienced these miscues, and every fan has felt their pain.
