Pac-12 Notebook: Egregious Officiating Error in Cal-Washington State Game
Officials made an egregious mistake during Cal’s 33-20 win over Washington.
On a play in the third quarter, the wrong team was penalized and the yardage was marked off against the wrong team. It doesn’t get much more egregious than that.
Cal benefited from the mistake, which occurred in the third quarter. With Cal leading 20-11, Washington State’s Travell Harris returned a kickoff to midfield. A hand-to-the-face penalty was called against Cal, but the officials announced that it was against Washington State and it was marked off against the Cougars.
Instead of having the ball at the Cal 35-yard line as it should have, Washington State was given the ball at its own 8-yard line.
The next play was run before the mistake could be corrected.
The referee has been suspended for one game.
Here is the Pac-12’s Sunday explanation of the mistake:
“The Pac-12 Conference acknowledged an error in officiating during the third quarter of the Washington State at California game on Saturday, November 10.
“With 10:14 remaining in the third quarter, Washington State received the kick off and returned it to the 50-yard line. The Referee threw a flag on the play for a hands to the face penalty. After a crew discussion, the foul was announced by the Referee as “hands to the face on the receiving team number 15” and Washington State was penalized half the distance to the goal from the spot of the foul and the ball was placed at its own 8-yard line.
“After the next play was run, the Referee informed Washington State that there was an error in application of the penalty. The penalty was on the kicking team number 15, not the receiving team, and the penalty should have been assessed on California at the end of the play with the ball spotted at California’s 35-yard line.
“The Conference confirmed the penalty for hands to the face was correct. However, the mechanics and communication were incorrect in assessing the penalty to Washington State instead of California.
“The Referee has subsequently been suspended for one game for the breakdown in officiating mechanics and communication. The remaining members of the officiating crew have been downgraded.”
Washington State ended up getting a field goal on that possession, so the error probably did not have an effect on the outcome of the game, but that is a big, big mistake. Pac-12 officials keep doing things to undermine their credibility.
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Stanford stumble
With K.J. Costello back at quarterback Stanford’s offense was expected to take off. It was grounded on Saturday.
Colorado had allowed all nine previous opponents this season to score more than 30 points. The Cardinal only managed 13 in its 16-13 road loss to the Buffaloes.
Suddenly a Stanford team that was ranked 25 in the preseason AP poll is in danger of failing to land a bowl berth for the first time since 2008, a streak of 10 straight seasons that included a postseason game.
The Cardinal (4-5) needs to win two of its final three games to keep its bowl streak alive, with games against Washington State, Cal and Notre Dame remaining.
Cal is 5-4 and has a chance to finish with a better record than Stanford for the first time since 2008.
Where for art though, Ralphie?
Ralphie, the Buffalo that traditionally leads Colorado’s team onto the field during home games, was sidelined for the second straight week this weekend.
The reason for Ralphie’s absence was a nebulous as some coaches’ injury reports.
“Based on her temperament at Friday’s practice last night, we are just not comfortable with Ralphie running today,” John Graves, the Ralphie Program Manager, said in a tweet, according to the Denver Post.
Graves told a local CBS station, “Today she isn’t running because we didn’t feel it was in her best interest to run.”
We’re talking about practice
With all due respect to Allen Iverson, practice typically matters. But the lack of practice did not seem to hamper Arizona State freshman quarterback Joey Yellens.
Yellens made his first start Saturday in place of another freshman quarterback, Jayden Daniels, who was out with an injury.
ASU lost to USC 31-26, but Yellen led the Sun Devils on a comeback from a 28-7 deficit to get back in the game, then led a 58-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that was snuffed out with an interception.
Yellen finished 28-for-44 for 292 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. But the impressive thing is that he did it with virtually no practice.
“Because we have a freshman quarterback in Jayden, Joey doesn’t get any reps in practice,” said ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens, according to 247 Sports. “Zero, none. For him to come in and do what he did, that may be one of the best true freshman performances, first game, considering all things, considering what he’s got going on.”
USC QB's Fast start
USC quarterback Kedon Slovis passed for 437 yards against Arizona State, but his best work came in the first quarter, when he threw four touchdown passes and amassed 297 passing yards, the most by any college quarterback in a single quarter over the past 15 years.
USC plays Cal in Berkeley in an 8 p.m. game next Saturday.
Washington hangs on
Washington had let second-half leads slip away against Oregon and Utah, surrendering 41 points and 466 total yards in the second half of those two games combined.
But the Huskies shut down Oregon State on Friday.
Oregon State did not score a single offensive point, but got back in the game with a pick-six that cut the Washington lead to 13-7 with seven minutes left in the third quarter.
However, the Beavers amassed just 3 yards of offense the rest of the game.
Absent
The two Pac-12 teams getting the most national attention – Utah and Oregon – didn’t play on Saturday. But their names will come up again on Tuesday, when it will be determined whether either has gained or lost ground in bids to earn a berth in the College Football Playoff. Oregon was ranked seventh last week and Utah was eighth.
