FORT WORTH, Texas — On the wrong end of a controversial call, Brett Yormark has the necessary video to ask that the officiating in major college football be addressed.
Doesn’t mean it will happen. Or even if it does that it will guarantee any measure of success.
The Big 12 commissioner was in Fort Worth on Monday to meet the new director of athletics at TCU, and the topic of conversation is how his league has performed this postseason, specifically the raw deals for both BYU and Arizona State.
Wearing hindsight’s 20/20 glasses, of those left out of the 12-team bracket, BYU, not Alabama, is the team most deserving of a spot that was ignored. And Arizona State maybe would have defeated Texas in the Peach Bowl had it not been for an officiating call that did not go its way.
Yormark can do nothing about either now except do whatever possible to ensure these types of developments are not repeated.
When college football’s major players convene next week for the national title game in Atlanta, Yormark said he plans to lobby his fellow conference commissioners to address the impossible math equation that is officiating.
“As the CFP becomes bigger — it’s a multi-billion dollar business now — they’ve got to go through an organizational redesign to make sure that they are staffed for this next chapter of the CFP, versus where it came from,” Yormark told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “And I think one of the things that has to be considered is a head of football that oversees officiating, that oversees, anything football related, so to speak. I think that’s critically important.”
Such a beast currently does not exist. As much as this makes sense, we are talking about college football, which moves almost at the speed of congress.
Yormark wants uniformity between the officiating crews across college football’s four major leagues.
He may have lobbied for this regardless of how this postseason has played out, but it became a priority because of one specific play in Arizona State’s overtime loss against Texas in the Peach Bowl, the national quarterfinal playoff game.
Arizona State and Texas were tied with 68 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt completed a 10-yard pass to receiver Melquan Stovall near midfield. Stovall held on to the ball despite a nasty hit from Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe.
Even in real time it looked like Taaffe’s hit fit the description of a “targeting” call, which would have resulted in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. Replays were more conclusive that the hit was high, but the officials did not call a penalty after reviewing the hit in slow motion.
Arizona State punted, and Texas won in double overtime.
Considering the horrible state of Arizona State’s kicking situation, it’s no guarantee the Sun Devils would have won had the penalty been assessed. And Arizona State had its chances to win in overtime, too.
“I would like there to be a national standard when it comes to officiating for the CFP. It certainly isn’t the case right now,” he said. “And I would like to see the CFP bring on board a head of football, just like I have a vice president football for the Big 12 that handles everything football.”
