I doubt Tom Hansen will care what Beebe has to say about anything. He'd just suspend a ref for a game. Hell he does it for conference games where their refs do a crappy job. Like this.
Replay officials receive rebuke
The Pac-10 says the crew in the booth was looking at a key play and should have asked to halt Saturday's OSU game
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
PAUL BUKER
The Oregonian Staff
The Pacific-10 Conference has reprimanded the instant replay crew that botched a key call in Saturday night's Oregon State-Washington game, which was marred by an injury to Washington quarterback Jake Locker and fighting.
In a statement released Monday, commissioner Tom Hansen also said no additional penalties will be assessed against the four players kicked out of the game, which was won by the Beavers 29-23, but NCAA playing rules require that each of the players misses half of the next game.
For OSU, that means starting right cornerback Brandon Hughes, starting safety Bryan Payton and special teams player James Dockery will not play in the first half of the Beavers' game Saturday against Washington State. The Washington player ejected was left guard Ryan Tolar.
The Beavers' loudest complaint after the game involved tailback Yvenson Bernard's fumble in the last three minutes.
Bernard was stretching for a touchdown near the goal line when the ball came loose -- after he was clearly down. Replay on the Reser Stadium video board clearly showed Bernard was down before he lost the ball, but officials did not review the play.
OSU coach Mike Riley said it was either a touchdown, or OSU's ball on the 1-yard line.
Instead, it was ruled a fumble, and Huskies cornerback Roy Lewis picked up the ball and attempted to score.
There was no call from replay officials to review the play, and Washington nearly came back to win the game as a result.
"It was a (potential) season-changing play," Riley said. "I have nightmares about that."
Hansen agreed.
"We do believe the instant replay officials did not perform properly on the Bernard fumble play," Hansen said in the release.
"There was human error, in that while reviewing the available replays, the crew failed to notify the game officials to stop play before the ball was snapped for the next play. . . . It was not the fault of the equipment. The game should have been stopped and the play reviewed. The members of the (replay) crew have been reprimanded."
Pac-10 officials spent three hours going over the bizarre series of events.
Hansen said the review of the game tape was done by himself, coordinator of football officiating Dave Cutaia, director of instant replay Verle Sorgen and football administrator Jim Muldoon.
Sorgen was asked, during a phone conversation after the decision Monday, if the review judge would be benched for the rest of the season.
"It wasn't that egregious," Sorgen said. "Unless you are an Oregon State fan."
There was no action taken on the helmet-to-helmet hit by OSU safety Al Afalava that sent Locker to the hospital.
"We believe the helmet-to-helmet contact on the hit on Locker was inadvertent," Hansen said in the statement.
The officiating crew led by referee Larry Farina was criticized by coaches for not having control of the game, but Hansen noted, "We found that the (officials) made earnest attempts to control the conduct of the players. Eight personal fouls were called and four players ejected during the game. We did not find any act which was not addressed by the officials which warranted additional action by the conference."
Hansen said there wasn't enough evidence to suggest Bernard was being punched in the face by Huskies defensive tackle Wilson Afoa during a second-quarter pileup. Beavers coach Mike Riley saw it differently.
"That situation was not handled well," Riley said. "I saw his helmet ripped off, and somebody was punching him in the face."
Hansen said the rough-and-tumble game, "was not a game representative of the best of Pac-10 football."
Hansen said it is the only Pac-10 game this season with player ejections.
Riley thought Hughes was being unfairly punished because, according to Riley, "he was a (peacemaker). He never threw a punch. But you know what? It is what it is . . . we retaliated. We could have had better self-control."
Riley said the lack of self-control on the field "has been dealt with" within the team and he didn't want to discuss it further.
"We've got to get ready for the Cougars," said Riley of Saturday's game in Pullman, Wash.
Paul Buker: 503-221-8167;
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