clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Big 12 officials...the refs we love to....love?

Bitch all you want, but those guys DELIVERED Baylor to OSU on a silver platter last night.

By Robert Whetsell
OrangePower.com

The zebras had a change of heart at halftime during the Cowboys' tilt with Baylor on Thursday night.

In the first half they swallowed their whistles. Beautifully called game. Flow. Excitement. Points. OSU was blitzing the Bears. Teams were a combined 13-18 from the charity stripe. Just enough, not too much.

Then their agents came in at the intermission and explained that they weren't getting enough "exposure." Too much deferring to those silly players and coaches. Time to remind the fans who is in charge of this game.

Ugh.

Now before we continue down this path, let us review a couple of stats from the second half...

  • Baylor scored 48 points in the 2nd half...15 on FT's
  • OSU scored 32 points in the 2nd half...20 on FT's
Yes, you read that correctly. That is not a typo. Le'Bryan Nash made 6 FG's in the second half. OSU made 6 FG's in the second half.

Had it not been for the officials completely killing the flow and vibe of that game, OSU would have gone home. The same group that called the "phantom" foul on Forte that resulted in the 4 point play that tied the game were the same ones that called the "phantom" foul with 2.9 seconds left that sent Forte to the line for two. Don't get me wrong, these guys sucked, and Big 12 officiating has been an abomination all season. But OSU was the benefactor of the suckiness, and at this time of the year nobody cares HOW you win. What matters is do you get to play another game.

While both of those fouls involved "contact," neither involved contact that placed the player at a disadvantage or exposed the player to physical injury. Those were both classic examples of whistles that SHOULDN'T have been blown at that stage of the game.

Officiating is about consistency. You would like that to apply to the entire game. In this case, no, but at least they were consistent for the halves. Eighteen trips to the line in the first 20 minutes...44 in the last 20. For the game, OSU shot only 4 more FT's than Baylor, and made only 2 more.

And the Cowboys won by 2 points. And by the hair on their chinny-chin-chin...

I love those refs!

GO POKES!!!

More From Cowboys Ride For Free