Worst official's call in Alabama history (or at least as far back as you remember) ?

[Probius]

'95 Arkansas. The Hogs WR traps the ball in the front of the end zone for the winning score. I was so angry.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Presented for discussion, this gem.

That is horrible. There's a ref standing at the goal line pylon, looking at the play literally 9 yards away, and he didn't see the no-catch?

Reason we don't hear more about this is that the barn ended up winning anyway. So while it was a horrible call, it didn't affect the outcome.

 

[Probius]

The delusional Nebraska fan base will 100% insist it was the right call.

Wow, that was an insanely bad call.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Wow, that was an insanely bad call.

The 5th down game is still the worst call ever in college football. Not only did it affect the games outcome but a correct call would have changed the entire season.

Last year's free timeout for auburn has to be t least top 3.

 

[81usaf92]

The delusional Nebraska fan base will 100% insist it was the right call.

If we are talking about Nebraska benefiting from horrendous calls then the 97 Missouri game goes to the top. That bull crap call gave idiot coaches a reason to award Tom Osborne a fake national championship to ride off into the sunset on.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The 5th down game is still the worst call ever in college football. Not only did it affect the games outcome but a correct call would have changed the entire season.

I respectfully disagree, though I once argued as you did (even though I liked CU up to that point).

The reason I disagree was after looking into it, I can't really blame Colorado - in large part because their offensive play calling was determined on the basis of the officials getting the down wrong in the first place.

IOW - CU doesn't run the same offensive plays if they're aware of the down situation. And that's why I have a hard time going too hard after them. One of the bizarre ironies is that Bill McCartney, the CU coach, was a Missouri grad who had played on that field. He later said that his whole wrong response (and that's what ticked everyone off) was because he was angry over all their slipping on the newly installed turf, and he was trying to NOT sound off his sour grapes if they lost. When they won, he had no problem trashing the field, but he was unaware at that time of the foul-up.

And to say it affected the outcome of the national title - well, maybe, but it's not Colorado's fault that Virginia, Notre Dame, Auburn, Miami, Nebraska, Houston, and Washington all choked. (Keep in mind CU beat three of those teams head to head).


But was it a bad call? Yes, especially given the fact that the referee's regular job was - as a math teacher. (This is not one of my jokes).

 

[Tidewater]

Here is one (although not from Alabama history). Utter, inexcusable screw up.

The fact that Sooners' number 22 did not make a scene and attract attention to himself when he recovered the ball cost his team.
How the refs could possibly come to a wrong conclusion is beyond me.

 

[ALA2262]

Preston Gothard ruled OB in 1983 PSU game. Horrible call at the time, and cost us the win.

BTW — the uncle of Mike Guman (the guy that Krauss stopped twice for The Goal Line Stand) was on the officiating crew. Many also say he made the erroneous call, but that wasn’t the case....someone else did. Still, what a conflict of interest! He should never have been allowed on that crew. Caesar’s wife and all that.

As a pure miss, the non-DPI against LSU in 2004 was the worst. It was so obvious that even LSU fans were shocked — and that’s not easily done. But it was early enough in the game that it’s hard to say it led directly to our loss. Certainly cost us at least three, and probably seven points.

Not so the Gothard miss. That was in the final seconds and did change the outcome.

Side note: Saban was LSU’s coach in 2004. Wonder what he would say today, 15 years removed.

IMO, there is a huge bright silver lining on the 2004 non call black cloud. Wayne Huizenga hired Nick Saban with LSU at 9-2 with a win over Bama . No one will ever convince me that he would have hired him at 8-3 with a loss to Bama. If Saban doesn't go to Miami, he is probably HC at Texas by now with LSU owning the NCs he won at Bama.

BTW, you are correct about the Gothard call. Don Guman was the Head Linesman on the crew and actually signaled TD on the play. Jack O'Rourke was the Back Judge who ruled the pass incomplete. His association barred him from officiating any future PSU games, and he retired from officiating at the end of that season.

"Jack O'Rourke, an assistant superintendent of a small-town Ohio school system, may be remembered as fondly in Alabama as the boll weevil.

O'Rourke was the field judge who ruled Saturday that Preston Gothard, a backup tight end, was not in possession of the football when he came rolling down in the end zone with what appeared to be the touchdown pass that capped an Alabama comeback against Penn State."

PLAYS; ALABAMA PASS CALL REVIEWED (Published 1983)

www.nytimes.com

 

[selmaborntidefan]

IMO, there is a huge bright silver lining on the 2004 non call black cloud. Wayne Huizenga hired Nick Saban with LSU at 9-2 with a win over Bama . No one will ever convince me that he would have hired him at 8-3 with a loss to Bama. If Saban doesn't go to Miami, he is probably HC at Texas by now with LSU owning the NCs he won at Bama.

BTW, you are correct about the Gothard call. Don Guman was the Head Linesman on the crew and actually signaled TD on the play. Jack O'Rourke was the Back Judge who ruled the pass incomplete. His association barred him from officiating any future PSU games, and he retired from officiating at the end of that season.

"Jack O'Rourke, an assistant superintendent of a small-town Ohio school system, may be remembered as fondly in Alabama as the boll weevil.

O'Rourke was the field judge who ruled Saturday that Preston Gothard, a backup tight end, was not in possession of the football when he came rolling down in the end zone with what appeared to be the touchdown pass that capped an Alabama comeback against Penn State."

PLAYS; ALABAMA PASS CALL REVIEWED (Published 1983)

www.nytimes.com

What made that particularly egregious is that the refs had hosed Nebraska (I know, I know) the previous year on the same field. Indeed, there were a lot of non-Alabama fans sounding off and basically saying, "Does a team have to beat Penn State AND the refs in Happy Valley?"

Nebraska fans, of course, will tell you that game cost THEM a national title (the logic being that if they beat Penn State then the Lions have two losses and Nebraska is the sole unbeaten big name team).

And they're probably correct unless one wishes to argue that Herschel Walker's Georgia beats Mike Rozier's Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl.

But so what? It's Nebraska and blah blah blah.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

That is horrible. There's a ref standing at the goal line pylon, looking at the play literally 9 yards away, and he didn't see the no-catch?

Reason we don't hear more about this is that the barn ended up winning anyway. So while it was a horrible call, it didn't affect the outcome.

The funny thing is that if Vandy had won that game, they would lead awbern by two games in their head to head series... 😆

 

[81usaf92]

What made that particularly egregious is that the refs had hosed Nebraska (I know, I know) the previous year on the same field. Indeed, there were a lot of non-Alabama fans sounding off and basically saying, "Does a team have to beat Penn State AND the refs in Happy Valley?"

Nebraska fans, of course, will tell you that game cost THEM a national title (the logic being that if they beat Penn State then the Lions have two losses and Nebraska is the sole unbeaten big name team).

And they're probably correct unless one wishes to argue that Herschel Walker's Georgia beats Mike Rozier's Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl.

But so what? It's Nebraska and blah blah blah.

another bull crap Nebraska play was the 2015 Michigan St game. They won the game and got bowl eligible for running out of bounds to catch a touchdown. Granted it doesn’t affect Michigan St, but it’s still a bogus call for the children of the corn.

 

[Tidewater]

What made that particularly egregious is that the refs had hosed Nebraska (I know, I know) the previous year on the same field. Indeed, there were a lot of non-Alabama fans sounding off and basically saying, "Does a team have to beat Penn State AND the refs in Happy Valley?"

I recall there was an article in Sports Illustrated with the title, "Penn State's Magical Stadium," of something like that.

 

[Tenntiderman]

You have to be talking about the 1995 game at BDS, where:
a) Tim Brando called the game for JP (Rolaids, please!)
b) the Arkies had 12 men on the field on the next to last play of the game and got away with it so well that it wasn't until Danny Ford said they'd done it that anyone knew
c) JJ Meadors traps the damn ball on fourth down and they give it to him.

That one was a personal nightmare for me because I was stationed at Little Rock at the time. For two solid years, all I heard was bout their b-ball team that won the title in 94 and then lost it in the final in 95. EVERY single football game no matter the score, they'd insist the refs screwed them.

But then for a solid year it was non-stop Hawg blather about how great they were and won the West and all that stuff. I've never been so glad for the political ads to pop up as they did the next year to drown out the insanity.

It was awful to live there for that, and I loved that place. But yikes.

Awbun in red.

 

[Dave'stwin]

Worst call IMO was 1983 Alabama @ Penn State where Preston Gothard made the potential game winning TD catch but was called out of bounds.

Absolutely the worst call and it wasn’t an honest error either. He made the call as a homer and it should have cost him his job. It would have been one of the greatest comebacks in Bama history. Yet we left the stadium feeling cheated. Even diehard Penn St. fans sitting around us admitted it was a bad call. That turned out to be the longest road trip drive home I’ve ever experienced. I bet my father didn’t say 10 words for the first 200 miles.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Eric Gregg 1997 Maddux vs Marlins game.

 

[B1GTide]

Eric Gregg 1997 Maddux vs Marlins game.

Yes, worst called game in any sport. I don't know how much Gregg was paid to throw that game, but it was fixed and I'll never be convinced otherwise.

 

[Tidewater]

Yes, worst called game in any sport. I don't know how much Gregg was paid to throw that game, but it was fixed and I'll never be convinced otherwise.

Did he ever call a MLB game after that? My goodness. That's malpractice. And I don't even care that much about baseball.

 

[B1GTide]

Did he ever call a MLB game after that? My goodness. That's malpractice. And I don't even care that much about baseball.

Yes - 2 more seasons.

 

[Tenntiderman]

Im sure we would all like to forget the 1997 Arky game if we could, haha. Houston Nutt’s team took us behind the proverbial woodshed.

Yeah..that was '98. Nutt acted like a....well...you know..all day long. I don't even think anybody was listening to him. He had a really good DC that year. Best Arkansas team I have seen.

 

[Tidewater]

Yes - 2 more seasons.

That is a travesty. An indictment of MLB itself.
I am not saying he was on the take (I do not know enough about the man), but to allow that level of incompetence and endorse it by retaining the man's services is an indictment of the league.