My letter to Jim Delany about officiating

                                                                Commissioner James Delany

                                                                Big Ten Conference

                                                                5440 Park Pl

                                                                Rosemont, IL 60018

Dear Sir;

                I write to say how embarrassed I have been over the past few years about the sad state and general incompetence of conference officiating crews on the football field.  It all came to a head Saturday night October 25 during the Ohio State-Penn State football game at Beaver Stadium in State College, PA.  This officiating crew, led by referee John O’Neill was the most  incompetent I’ve seen in a long time. 

                For the record, nobody buys his explanation about the video feed.  O’Neill and replay official Tom Fiedler stated the feed was “the same as you get at home”.  Well, what ABC showed “at home” was the ball clearly hitting the ground on Ohio State DB Vonn Bell’s “interception” in the first quarter.  The “official report” from the conference office would seem to contradict that statement by saying the replay booth only had an overhead view of the play.  Are people to actually believe that was the only view available in the replay booth and that ABC had problems with the video feed?  Evidently not, when everyone outside that video booth saw the ball hit the ground.  That “official explanation” does not hold water, especially when NCAA rules stipulate that replay officials are supposed to have access to video evidence provided by and coming directly from the televised production of the game or from other video means available to the replay official.   The officiating crew further showed their incompetence on a field goal attempt when the play clock clearly expiring about three full seconds before the ball was snapped.   "In this case, a breakdown in officiating mechanics occurred and the crew failed to properly monitor the play clock.”  Isn’t it the job of the line judge to keep the official time on the field?  Mr. Fiedler claims that is not reviewable, however, the NCAA rule book would seem to call that into question  “the replay official may correct egregious errors, including those involving the game clock, whether or not a play is reviewable”

                Also for the record, I am an Ohio State fan and even though they won the game, nobody likes to see incompetent officiating influence the game.  I am calling for you and Supervisor of Football Officials Bill Carollo to suspend referee John O’Neill and his crew, as well as replay official Tom Fiedler and his crew for the rest of the 2014 football season and further evaluate their competency to continue officiating conference football games in 2015.

                                                                                                                                Respectfully Yours,