Timely thread for sure- I'll do my best to be objective so that I have some
ground to stand on, before I get blown out of the water
1) Games were definitely entertaining. CFP needed these to be good, given
the relative "down year" in terms of true quality teams.
2) Self-confessed OSU fan here. I do NOT "hate" Georgia (I hate Michigan!).
All 4 defenses were bad and the officiating was bad. Heck, I'll even admit
Michigan got jobbed
I don't think there's an anti- Big 10 conspiracy, I
think it's ineptitude. The ONLY way to fix these consistently horrible
officiating jobs is next-to-impossible to implement. I think major
sport officials (someone else can define that) in this country should be
required to take the same training at the same time, in order to be
"licensed" to officiate that sport. If a person can't get away from their
primary job for that training, then see you later- go back to being an
accountant, attorney, etc. I also believe a "group within the group" should
be full time officials- not attorneys or accountants. Members from THIS
group would fill the spots for championship/bowl/playoff games (for D1
football in the example) and be compensated accordingly. ALL officials
should be required to continuously educate, just like players have to go
back to practice, win or lose. Too often the suspect officials go back to
their everyday lives with no penalty for consistent poor performance. A
week later, they've studied zero film and had no peer review of their
atrocities, so they are prone to repeat. THIS needs fixed...
3) Specifically within college football, "targeting" needs removed from the
lexicon altogether. It is patently obvious that officials have no
clear grasp on it's meaning, as even replay people routinely mistake it
despite every advantage given not to do so. There has been a penalty
called "unsportsmanlike conduct" for decades. Use it! Dump targeting
(unless, of course, we want to call running backs for lowering their
helmets into defenders' helmets intentionally, which they often do). Point
is, the rule is a joke that's easy to fix- goodbye to it.
4) Not a fan of CFP expansion to 12 teams, too many!
Trent King