150% Games - and why they might be a good thing for Bama...

uafan4life

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This win against Texas A&M came in what I like to call 150% games. It's where the opponent shows up and gives you their complete game - giving you 100% - and half the time it feels like the refs are playing for the other team - for you other 50%.

While I don't believe there is anything nefarious going on with the officiating, I know there is definitely something going on causing Bama's opponents to be penalized incongruently less often than Bama. For lack of a better term, I'll call it the anti-Goliath bias.

More often than most people would think, officials in a football game are faced with a split-second decision where they spot a foul which, while technically a foul, is either a borderline foul, a foul that is commonly ignored, or a foul that really has no effect on the play and the official must decide whether to let it go or drop the flag. Sometimes, as fans, we see these types of plays where the official keeps the flag in his pocket and we yell for him to throw the flag and other times where he throws the flag and we yell for him to let the boys play. Other times, we see both and appreciate his keen eye. It all depends upon for which color jersey we're rooting.

The problem begins when, intentionally or not, an official begins to allow the color of the jersey to factor into his decision. When an official begins to allow thoughts like "they need all the help they can get" against the Goliath to influence the decision of whether to throw the flag or leave it in his pocket, the end result becomes a noticeable disparity between the number of flags thrown against the Goliath versus his opponents.

It's no coincidence that, for the past few seasons, the opponents of Alabama and Ohio State have been among the least penalized in the country. Not only are they big brands, they've both been perennially considered among the best of the best in college football. Even Clemson, who two and three years ago were beneficiaries of the officials' flags, after making the CFP National Championship game the past two seasons has, thus far this season, joined the ranks of those in whose direction the officials' flag fly more often than not. In fact, over the past 10 years, at least, the vast majority of teams that have finished in the top 10 of the AP poll the previous two seasons have finished in the bottom half of the country in opponents' penalties during the next.

While it would be nice to know that, in every game, flags for similar infractions would fly equally in both directions as far as Bama is concerned that will never be a guarantee as long as the officials are still human.

So, what should happen about this obvious issue?

I say nothing. I think it's just one of those things that's going to be one of those things.

Sure, Saban or someone else in the athletic department could go to the SEC office and try to get something done about it and maybe that would work. However, even if the SEC officials were to actively try to correct their anti-Goliath bias, the odds are that the bias would still exist in the minds of officials from other conferences.

And where are we most likely to face officials from other conferences? That's right, in big out-of-conference games and, especially, the College Football Playoff.

So, for the moment, I'll try to be grateful for games like this because it helps prepare us to play in even bigger games down the road where the flags will seem to be always flying against us.
 

tattooguy21

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Aug 14, 2012
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Believe it or not there are actually three teams currently ranked below Bama in this category:

College FB Team Opponent Penalties per Game

127Alabama
128GA Tech
129Rice
130Tulane

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/opponent-penalties-per-game
Currently.

I posted links in either thread to the post two years showing Alabama best total defensive ranking and having the least penalties against our defence.

Whether it's bias or whatever, the stats are real.



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CrimsonSEC

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Currently.

I posted links in either thread to the post two years showing Alabama best total defensive ranking and having the least penalties against our defence.

Whether it's bias or whatever, the stats are real.



Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I think to check for a disparity, someone could compare Alabama to the rest of the SEC schools since they have the same officials in common.
 

TideEngineer08

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It’s somewhat similar to the “hack a Shaq” phenomenon that occurred in the nba when Shaquille O’neal was playing. He was fouled constantly for two reasons: he was a horrible free throw shooter, but also because he was so dominant it was the only chance many defenders had against him. The problem was that many of the fouls went uncalled. There was an obvious bias by the refs for the underdog.
 

ALA2262

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Just like with the open dates prior to Bama games, nothing will be done unless/until the SEC is publicly embarrassed. The SEC has scheduled an average of about six open dates per year for conference opponents prior to their games with Bama, ever since they took over the scheduling in 1992. Each year three or four would schedule a bye and three or two would schedule a cupcake. Each year Bama would complain, nothing would be done, and life would go on. Then in 2010 all six of them used the open date to schedule a bye and the SEC wound up with egg all over their face. Resulting in the "Three Bye Maximum" rule.

Something similar will have to happen with the penalties before Bama gets any relief.
 

PA Tide Fan

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With so many games being televised I can't help but wonder if some of the "Anti-Goliath" bias has something to do with TV ratings. There might be pressure on the officials to try and keep games competitive for as long as possible because they know people quit watching if a game quickly turns into a blowout. So to try and negate the obvious talent disparity between teams simply let the underdog get away with some things. Over the years there's been so many times I see a team ready to turn a game into a rout only to see the officials throw a flag after a big TD run or pass and bring the ball back. When it happens I always think to myself "Well, I guess the officials don't want the score to get too far out of hand or people may lose interest."
 

KrAzY3

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I think that's a lot of it. Not conscious (refs would never admit that they let Bama opponents get away with stuff that they woudl call if a Bama player did the same thing), but real.
I think we as a society tend to have a skewed perspective of fairness. Fairness should actually be impartiality, but you usually see fairness being used to describe as trying to "level the playing field" in one way or the other. So what tends to happen, and not just in football, is that people take action to try to make things more equal which isn't necessarily fair.

To give an example, they see big bad mean Alabama defender beating the snot out of weaker smaller guy. The instinctual reaction might be "that's not fair" and they obviously respond accordingly sometimes. However, that is fair. It's just not equal and they shouldn't be trying to make it equal.
 

theballguy

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With so many games being televised I can't help but wonder if some of the "Anti-Goliath" bias has something to do with TV ratings. There might be pressure on the officials to try and keep games competitive for as long as possible because they know people quit watching if a game quickly turns into a blowout. So to try and negate the obvious talent disparity between teams simply let the underdog get away with some things. Over the years there's been so many times I see a team ready to turn a game into a rout only to see the officials throw a flag after a big TD run or pass and bring the ball back. When it happens I always think to myself "Well, I guess the officials don't want the score to get too far out of hand or people may lose interest."
In these type of situations, I always say "follow the money." 99.9% of the time it's true. Luckily though, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But I do believe heavily in psychology. It is what it is. One of the many reasons why it's so difficult to repeat over and over. What CNS has done year in and year out is borderline miraculous.
 

TrampLineman

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With so many games being televised I can't help but wonder if some of the "Anti-Goliath" bias has something to do with TV ratings. There might be pressure on the officials to try and keep games competitive for as long as possible because they know people quit watching if a game quickly turns into a blowout. So to try and negate the obvious talent disparity between teams simply let the underdog get away with some things. Over the years there's been so many times I see a team ready to turn a game into a rout only to see the officials throw a flag after a big TD run or pass and bring the ball back. When it happens I always think to myself "Well, I guess the officials don't want the score to get too far out of hand or people may lose interest."
Not sure I believe that (the ratings part)

If this site is legit, the Bama/Ole Siss game were our 2nd highest rated game of the year and it was a 66-3 blowout.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/

Now I do agree the refs will call crap on us just to keep the other team in the game like we're cheaters or something.
 

BamaMoon

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Not sure I believe that (the ratings part)

If this site is legit, the Bama/Ole Siss game were our 2nd highest rated game of the year and it was a 66-3 blowout.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/

Now I do agree the refs will call crap on us just to keep the other team in the game like we're cheaters or something.
Interesting. I wonder if those "ratings" are measured for the whole game or those who watch at the beginning.

I can gaurantee you that most fans other than Bama fans didn't watch that whole game. And, I just guess that part of the high ratings had to do with the fact that OM has been the only team lately to have any luck upsetting us.
 

bamaslammer

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I think it's a combination of several things, On monday every week a team knows it's "Alabama week". In many cases this is THE game for the year, nothing before or it after it matters. This is not the case with every team but for more teams than not, this is the biggest game they will play, including the bowl game. So everybody locks in, everybody is as focused as they can be. So naturally they are going to make fewer mistakes and penalties being so locked in.

There is more... The the coaching staff has spent a ton more film study on this game because they know a victory over Alabama or even a good showing can easily mean a raise and vote of confidence.

Then there is this fact, They know they need a few miracle plays to win and they are willing to try plays they might not consider against a different apponent. Sometimes those plays backfire spactacularly but amazingly they often work simply because they are such a surprise.

Add to that the natural and most likely unconcious bias the refs have for the underdog and you get these outcomes that seem a little crazy.

I don't think you can ever remove the unconcious bias but I believe for Alabama and a few other top teams the ref crew should review these stats and realize that it's extremely unlikely these calls are falling as they should and that they should make every effort to focus entirely on the play and not the color of the uni's or the score or anything else.
 

PitMaster

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Aug 24, 2015
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Officials, especially SEC stripes, have been exposed

As such, I fully expect Commish Spanky and Steve Shaw to release a "statement" tomorrow lauding the clowns
 

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