Oh, For the Simpler Days…

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. I'm not sure if it's because of the recent death of my grandfather or the debacle two weeks ago with the replay review at the Oregon/Oklahoma game. In either case, both events have caused me to hearken back to when watching college football on TV was a pretty simple thing to do.

Although my Grandpa wasn't a huge college football fan, he loved football in general and passed that love down to me at an early age. From the time I was in first grade until my family moved to a different town before junior high began, my Grandpa would pick me up from school and take me to the high school triple-header played at the big stadium in town. Saturdays were spent outdoors doing yard work or going to the park, while Sundays were reserved for watching the Rams or whatever other NFL game might happen to be on.

I learned to love college football from my Grandmother on the other side of the family and by watching games when I was at home with my Mom. This was back before cable and there would only be one or two games on each week. You knew whatever game was on was a big game because it was on TV.

The players would run in front of the camera, helmet under arm, and give their name, year, position, and home town. The half-time show would include some of the marching band playing on the field. The studio show would at least mention the scores of just about every game being played in the country. Two guys in the booth, a half-dozen cameras or so, and simple graphics. Instant replay was used sparingly and wasn't really all that "instant," coming several seconds after the play — and it was never used to help the officials on the field do their jobs.

I watched that OU/U of O game a couple weeks ago, and I was utterly shocked that the replay officials missed both those calls — until I heard who the official was. I have nothing personal against Gordon Riese, but when I found out it was him who blew those calls, it all made sense.

Sure, he had a long career as a referee in the Pac-10, but just because you have a long career doesn't necessarily mean you're good at what you do (take Howard Stern, for example). As a native Pacific Northwesterner, I've seen a lot of Pac-10 (and Pac-8 games, both in person and on TV, and my recollection is that most of the games where controversy ensued because of a bad call by the officials, Gordon Riese was there.

That's not to say that my memory might be a bit obscured with time, but there was a time when Pac-10 officials were the worst in college football and ol' Gordon was at the head of them. Any time there'd be a bad call that helped turn the tide of a game, any game, the joke would be, "they must've been Pac-10 refs." Things seemed to have simmered down in the past few years, but with this latest episode, the pendulum is swinging back the other direction.

Oklahoma has threatened to pull out of it's scheduled game at Washington in a couple years if the Pac-10 doesn't change its policy of not using a neutral officiating crew for non-conference games at a conference stadium. I can understand why the conference would not want to bring in refs from outside for those games — with the reputation Pac-10 officials have earned over the years, if the teams saw the way a game should be officiated, they'd all revolt and want other conferences' officials to do all their games.

This may all sound a little harsh and unfair, but when you've seen as many pass interference calls made or not made at a crucial time of the game, or a player get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pointing to the student section after making a big play, or another player get tossed for defending himself at the bottom of the pile while an opposing player was pounding him in the face, you'd be a little harsh, as well.

To get back on topic, I guess I said all that above to bring myself to this point — instant replay does not belong in college football. And if it does, it needs some serious tweaking. I can understand why they changed the rules about the clock this year; when just about every close play near the end of the game is reviewed, that takes a lot of time.

There ought to be some guidelines established as to exactly what type of play can be reviewed (I know there are some guidelines now, but they're too broad). "The previous play is being reviewed to see if the lineman sneezed, therefore causing him to false start." Then we get 19 different angles on TV of him spewing snot and spit, and "expert" analysis from everyone on the broadcast crew.

While we all want college football to maintain its identity separate from the pros, it might not be a bad idea to structure replay challenges like the NFL where the coach has a limited number of opportunities to challenge a play. I know that wouldn't have mattered in the Ducks/Sooners game because both those botched calls came within the final two minutes of the game where, in the NFL, only the booth can review a call.

I also think the referee should have some active part in the review process, instead of standing on the sidelines with a headset on waiting for a decision. I think it should be a tandem review, with the official in the booth and the ref conferring. Had that been the case in Eugene a couple weeks ago, the Sooners might well have had the ball following the onside kick.

I know that technology and the appetite of the TV-watching football fan for analysis and replay angles have brought us to the point of no return, but if we can't go back to five cameras, two announcers, and the band at half-time, we can at least make it so it's fair for everyone — even ol' Gordon Riese.