Most Influential official's Calls

[Bullaholic]

I'm not trying to start a thread to let everybody "bash" officials for their calls, because I admire and respect them for the difficult job that they do. However, there have been certain big games throughout athletic history in which the outcome was definitely changed by an official's call (good or bad). Which game outcomes that hinged on an official's call do you think were the most significant (good and bad) and memorable in football history? (HS, college, and pro).

[Bullaholic]

Here's one I remember:

Colorado comes from behind to beat Missouri 33-31 in 1990, scoring the game-winning touchdown on "fifth down." Officials fail to count a down when the Buffs spike the ball to stop the clock and mistakenly give CU five cracks at the end zone. Colorado's score comes on the final play of the game.

[BreckTxLonghorn]

I think it was a Pittsburgh game in '98. It went into OT and at the coin toss the ref mis-heard the call and gave it to the other team, which proceeded to score on its first drive.

Maybe not historically significant, but the ref did lose his job after the season (I think).

[Bullaholic]

One of the most controversial calls of the 2005 college season occurred in the Notre Dame- USC game when USC scored as time ran out and Reggie Bush was "assisted" into the end zone.

[mrescape43]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
One of the most controversial calls of the 2005 college season occurred in the Notre Dame- USC game when USC scored as time ran out and Reggie Bush was "assisted" into the end zone.

I'd bet that if it weren't USC the officials would have called that one. That was too obvious for all of them to miss.

[GS#17]

Bull, I think Bush "assisted" Lienert into the endzone.

[HighSchool Fan]

how about in the late 70's when mike renfro, who played for the houston oilers for you young'ens, caught the winning TD pass against pittsburgh and they called him out of bounds. that play kept houston out of the super bowl.

[District303aPastPlayer]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
how about in the late 70's when mike renfro, who played for the houston oilers for you young'ens, caught the winning TD pass against pittsburgh and they called him out of bounds. that play kept houston out of the super bowl.

doesnt his kid play for SLC?

[HighSchool Fan]

Originally posted by District303aPastPlayer
doesnt his kid play for SLC?

yes

[wos fan1]

yep!

[HighSchool Fan]

i guess the worst call of all time has to go to the Olympics. 1972 Olympic Basketball Gold Medal game. worst ref job of all time

[Dogman_1969]

Everyone gets so caught up in the fact that Reggie Bush assisted Leinart into the inzone. The fact is that Leinart had fumbled the football out of bounds a play earlier and the ball appeared to go out of bounds at the Irish 3 yd line. The ref's spotted it inside the 1 and the rest is history. Ball should have been on the 3. Would Reggie have won the Heisman is he would have been stopped inside the 3 yd line as time ran out and the Irish had won??????

[AggieJohn]

alamo bowl this year, worst officiating job i have ever seen

[HighSchool Fan]

i remember one time at a Boy's Club basketball game. it seemed that this one kid got called for a foul any time he did anything. thanks to the ref he finally fouled out. i was the kid playing and i didn't talk to my brother, the ref, for atleast a week. man he sure cheated me that day :(

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
i remember one time at a Boy's Club basketball game. it seemed that this one kid got called for a foul any time he did anything. thanks to the ref he finally fouled out. i was the kid playing and i didn't talk to my brother, the ref, for atleast a week. man he sure cheated me that day :(
Did someone forget to tell you that pushing, grabbing and tripping were all against the rules? :p ;)

[HighSchool Fan]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
Did someone forget to tell you that pushing, grabbing and tripping were all against the rules? :p ;)

they did after the fact

[VAMike]

Originally posted by Dogman_1969
Everyone gets so caught up in the fact that Reggie Bush assisted Leinart into the inzone. The fact is that Leinart had fumbled the football out of bounds a play earlier and the ball appeared to go out of bounds at the Irish 3 yd line. The ref's spotted it inside the 1 and the rest is history. Ball should have been on the 3. Would Reggie have won the Heisman is he would have been stopped inside the 3 yd line as time ran out and the Irish had won??????

I took the video apart frame by frame and this is what happened:
Ball was snapped at 2. Head Linesman (HL) is standing at the 2 and Box Man (guy with the down box from the chain crew) is behind him. The HL did not go to goalline at snap, he stayed in place. As QB rolled his way, H Lstarted to the GL. A ND defender, coming from inside out, knocked the ball loose as ball was at the 1 and QB was starting to dive. Ball went almost directly sideways (which would be in keeping with the laws of physics) and went out of bounds hitting the band members. You can see the ball clearly passing between the box man and the H. The Box Man never moved upfield so he was still on the 2 when ball passed in front of him. The correct spot would have to be someplace between the GL and the 2. It was spotted at the 1 for the next play (which ended up being the TD play).