Bo: "You ever seen anything like that?"

[Hercules]

My link

 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Bo Pelini wanted to hit the kid.

 

You could feel it. You could see it in his eyes, the way he gritted his teeth.

 

One of the worst nights in recent Husker history had just ended with Pelini bolting for referee Greg Burks. He lashed his tongue at Burks one more time as the zebra ran off the field.

 

Then Pelini made his way to midfield and shook hands with Aggies coach Mike Sherman.

 

Then Pelini started walking to the Husker locker room, a fish swimming upstream as a maroon school of Aggie fans rushed the field.

 

One student wasn't watching where he was going. Ran right into Pelini's chest. Head-on collision.

 

For half a second, I thought Bo was going to unleash three hours of fury. Strike him. Make this ugly evening into a national story. He didn't. Thank God.

 

Pelini exited the field with his team as cannons boomed, as smoke filled the air, as a Husker fan shouted repeatedly — “They stole it!”

 

About five minutes later, Pelini walked out of the Nebraska locker room — sweaty sweatshirt on his back — and saw me at the bottom of a stairwell.

 

“You ever seen anything like that?” he said, almost resigned to the facts.

 

Honest truth, Bo. I haven't.

 

Nebraska was charged with 16 penalties and Texas A&M two. And that's why the Huskers lost. That's why. That's it.

 

When such a foul discrepancy happens on the basketball court, officials instinctively call a few ticky-tack hacks to even things out. These refs had no such mercy for Big Red.

 

Most of the penalties Saturday night were reasonable. The most criminal absolutely was not.

 

Courtney Osborne blitzed on third-and-11 at the Nebraska 49.

 

He hit quarterback Ryan Tannehill right in the chest — much lower than Osborne's hit on Blaine Gabbert three weeks ago.

 

The referee, Burks, threw the flag for roughing the passer. Did Osborne hit too high? Did he hit too late?

 

“I didn't get any explanations,” Pelini said.

 

Back in the hallway, I asked Pelini what he said to Burks running off the field.

 

“I can't repeat it,” he said.

 

When did you know it was going to be a rough night between you and the officials?

 

“Pretty quick.”

 

Moments later, Pelini sat down before the Nebraska press corps and said he wasn't talking about the penalties.

 

I asked if he thought his sideline behavior perhaps precipitated some of the flags.

 

“Maybe,” he said. “I don't know.”

 

I asked if he thought Nebraska leaving the Big 12 Conference led to some of the flags.

 

“Like I said, you guys can make your own deductions. All you gotta do is look at the numbers.”

 

There's no use denying it anymore. Something's going on. Nebraska plays aggressively and sometimes even great teams get flagged a bunch.

 

But entering Saturday, Nebraska's seven conference foes had been charged with 29 penalties. Next lowest in the Big 12 was Iowa State, 42.

 

In other words, Big 12 officials don't throw flags on Husker opponents.

 

Is that coincidence? Until this game, I would've argued yes. But personal fouls don't just happen. Player A provokes Player B, Player B reacts. Personal fouls should be fairly even.

 

Nebraska had seven personal fouls. A&M had one.

 

Ben Cotton got flagged twice for personal fouls on one play for kicking an Aggie. Why? Well, Cotton singing soprano on the sideline had something to do with it.

 

Don't let Nebraska off the hook, especially the Pelinis. Bo blew a gasket as folks watched on television. He made himself, his program and his fan base look juvenile.

 

He spent more time chewing officials and Husker players than any game I've seen in three years — that's saying something.

 

He dressed down Taylor Martinez after the quarterback returned from the locker room in the second quarter.

 

“I can't talk about that,” Pelini said. “It had nothing to do with his injury.”

 

Carl Pelini had his own drama.

 

Brandon Jones, a camera man and co-owner of TexAgs.com, spotted Carl yelling at someone as he walked off the field. Jones started filming Carl. Carl saw the camera about 10 feet away, approached Jones and grabbed the camera.

 

“There's this awkward moment where we're eye-to-eye with each other,” Jones told me. “And I say, ‘What are you doing?'”

 

Carl broke off the eye piece of the camera, threw it on the ground and “stormed off the field,” Jones said.

 

You can see some of the confrontation at TexAgs.com. Carl Pelini was unavailable for comment.

 

What now for Nebraska? Two more dates with Big 12 officiating crews — if all goes well against Colorado. Then a fresh start.

 

When the Huskers play their first Big Ten game at Wisconsin in 10 months, I half-expect Bo Pelini to give Big Ten officials a box of Omaha Steaks and a bottle of Captain.

 

Wisconsin's Camp Randall will be crazy that day — about like Kyle Field Saturday night.

 

According to long-time Aggie observers, Saturday was the first time that fans rushed the field in at least 35 years.

 

They loitered on the field after the game, watching the replay board as the heroes dissected the win at their press conference.

 

Time and time again, players and coaches praised the crowd. The 12th Man, they call it.

 

On this night, A&M's 12th Man wore a white hat and a whistle.

[ESPY]

So Chatelain pretty much published our exact thoughts and words. Nice.

[Hujan]

This is a good start, but we need more. The question is how much do Nebraska opponents get flagged when they play Nebraska versus their averages against all other opponents? That will really tell the tale.

 

As I've said, the refs are rarely going to do something blatant to influence a game. It's much harder to detect small penalties that, when combined together, subtlety influence the outcome. Calling holding on Nebraska is an example. But the easiest way to do it is to refrain from penalizing the other team. That's how these guys are getting it down.

 

I'm willing to bet that our opponents have season-lows in penalties when they play us.

[bleedNUred]

Article hits the nail right on the head, these lop-sided penalty games are so blatantly against us it's ridiculous.

[zoogs]

Good article.

 

So Carl really grab that guy's camera, huh?

[Hercules]

Good article.

 

So Carl really grab that guy's camera, huh?

 

At this point, I doubt it.

 

The website that is claiming to be victim has as the caption to the video:

 

"Watch this video and decide for yourself what happened to the TexAgs camera..."

 

Doesn't exactly ring of... what's it called... oh, yes, journalism.

 

It's the kind of caption you'd put on there if you wanted to keep yourself protected from a lawsuit accusing you of libel.

[Fuzzy]

Good article.

 

So Carl really grab that guy's camera, huh?

 

I would rather have Carl grab the guy's camera and break it than the other stories im hearing about him tackling the guy or punching him.

[epocSoN]

You guys realize in the last 3 games our opponents have a combined 6 penalties?

[The Snork]

You guys realize in the last 3 games our opponents have a combined 6 penalties?

 

 

I wish someone would ask Walt Anderson, Head of Big 12 Officiating if its because his officials are are crooked or just that incompetent.

[Farva]

Look it was poorly reffed, seemed one-sided, and I especially hated a great defensive game ending on a drive kept alive by an atrocious, inexcusable call. But it was no more poorly reffed than the 2006 game in Kyle field where NU got ridiculous calls in the 4th to pull out a win against us. It was no worse reffed than our last game (Baylor) where we had 4 TDs in a row called back for phantom or nit-picky fouls. It was no worse reffed than our game before that where we pulled out the OU win despite the continual hose job from the refs. Big 12 reffing sucks. Period. It is just one of the many reasons I hope we leave for the SEC as soon as we get another chance and am disappointed that we didn't leave this last offseason.

 

But if you think there was some conspiracy involving last night's game I'd say that's pretty silly. 2/3rds of NU's penalties were dead-ball penalties due to lack of focus or discipline. Your head coach going apesh** halfway through the first quarter over any call or non-call that doesn't go his way (when there were plenty non-calls that did) is a recipe for disaster and doesn't help.

[I am I]

what about the replay's that go against us as well?

 

am i just really confused or did the guy who intercept the ball have his f'ing foot out of bounds? seriously, did i miss something?

 

and why didn't the TV production show the Eric martin Personal Fouls? they throw the flag for it, then don't show why he was flagged? I know that' not the refs doing it, but it still stinks

[The Snork]

what about the replay's that go against us as well?

 

am i just really confused or did the guy who intercept the ball have his f'ing foot out of bounds? seriously, did i miss something?

 

 

There you could make the arguement that the feet came down almost simultaneously, thereby claiming there wasn't conclusive evidence to overturn it. Like all the other unfortunate close calls that have gone against us this year.

[The Snork]

And don't forget that interference flag they picked up near the end zone. I'm thinking the ref threw that assuming the Nebraska player was going to catch the ball and they'd need a reason to take it back.

[Husker_x]

What's hilarious to me about this entire conversation is that more than .034% of it is focussed on Bo's sideline behavior.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a directed effort to screw him out of a title.

 

The numbers don't like. The Martin suspension doesn't lie. The Gabbert "forward progress stopped" doesn't lie. The penalties called, or rather not called, against our opponents all season long don't lie. Either the refs or someone in the Big XII offices is directing traffic against Pelini. His reaction may not be intelligent but it is appropriate. We should just consider ourselves lucky that he didn't murder one of the pay-by-play zebras. He needs to fight for his players. I hope they see that. When these kids are being cheated out of a game they've trained and prepare for their entire lives, someone had better be screaming about it.

[knapplc]

Look it was poorly reffed, seemed one-sided, and I especially hated a great defensive game ending on a drive kept alive by an atrocious, inexcusable call. But it was no more poorly reffed than the 2006 game in Kyle field where NU got ridiculous calls in the 4th to pull out a win against us. It was no worse reffed than our last game (Baylor) where we had 4 TDs in a row called back for phantom or nit-picky fouls. It was no worse reffed than our game before that where we pulled out the OU win despite the continual hose job from the refs. Big 12 reffing sucks. Period. It is just one of the many reasons I hope we leave for the SEC as soon as we get another chance and am disappointed that we didn't leave this last offseason.

 

But if you think there was some conspiracy involving last night's game I'd say that's pretty silly. 2/3rds of NU's penalties were dead-ball penalties due to lack of focus or discipline. Your head coach going apesh** halfway through the first quarter over any call or non-call that doesn't go his way (when there were plenty non-calls that did) is a recipe for disaster and doesn't help.

 

What is it about sixteen penalties vs. two penalties that doesn't seem like a conspiracy? Are you really going to sit there and tell us that A&M played a near-flawless game? No holding calls. No pass interference. No personal fouls. Nothing. Yet Nebraska had them in spades.

 

You will get zero sympathy for an argument like that here. We watched the game. We saw the plays. We saw what wasn't called.