Officials

[Matt Trump]

I hate complaining about them, but I'm going to anyway. They were horrible. You would think we would get the best in the league, being that it was for the auto-bid/championship.

The "personal foul" for roughing the kicker should have been running into the kicker. No question. SIU scored a td shortly after that call.

The block in the back call on the punt return was also questionable.

The constant resetting the clock was inexusable. Not the fault of the operator.

The fumble that should have been. That was bad too.

Yes we did get a nice one when we got their fumble back 2 plays later, but seriously, those refs were crap.

I know there were plenty more.

[panther2317]

Whitlock is the best running back we've seen this year...but he was aided a more than a few times with un-called holding penalties.

[Marc Wigim]

Yeah, there are SIU fans who even say that officiating was suspect. One guy mentioned that be believes the fumble they lost (the second one) was indeed not a fumble, but the roughing the kicker call was a load of mularkey as well. Bad calls from both sides. And apparently holding has been taking out of the rule book? Both sides getting away with all day long. If you can get away with it, why not?

I wasn't impressed.

[alleycat]

Agree no way that was a roughing on the kicker.

[NorthernIowaBacker]

I agree it went both ways.
What about when they gave Southern Illinois the first down late in the 4th without even measuring. Farley was going nuts and went out on the field after the ref. That was the WORST spot I have ever seen. It was a 1/2 to 1 yard short and the spot was just terrible. Then they just signaled first down. Unbelievable!

[GonzoCat]

Looking at the replay of the second fumble, I was very surprised they didn't blow the whistle and rule the play dead. Since they apparently didn't, it was a fumble. The first one was clearly a fumble, so I think a little karma was at work.

[Matt Trump]

Looking at the replay of the second fumble, I was very surprised they didn't blow the whistle and rule the play dead. Since they apparently didn't, it was a fumble. The first one was clearly a fumble, so I think a little karma was at work.

The runner also "might" have stepped out of bounds before he coughed it up. I'll take the fumble.

[MiloCat]

I agree it went both ways.
What about when they gave Southern Illinois the first down late in the 4th without even measuring. Farley was going nuts and went out on the field after the ref. That was the WORST spot I have ever seen. It was a 1/2 to 1 yard short and the spot was just terrible. Then they just signaled first down. Unbelievable!

I agree that it was a terrible spot. If I'm thinking of the same thing you are, the refs didn't measure because the drive started on the 20 (touchback), and the ball was spotted right on the 30 so it had to be a first down.

[NorthernIowaBacker]

I agree that it was a terrible spot. If I'm thinking of the same thing you are, the refs didn't measure because the drive started on the 20 (touchback), and the ball was spotted right on the 30 so it had to be a first down.

Yes thats the one. Gave them a half yard easily on the spot.

[merkpanthers]

The first fumble where Whitlock got upended on the replay I saw his elbow/arm hit the turf causing the ball to pop which means the play is dead and no fumble. We got lucky on our fumble I think, but it was hard to tell if he was down or not. The roughing the kicker was a horrible call and cost us some points. The linejudge was horrible at spotting all night cuz whenever they streached the ball after they hit the ground that was where they were spotting the ball, but not where the ball was once he hit the ground. Nonetheless we were able to fight through all of that and come out with the victory, so what are we complaining about???

[UNIAlum95]

Looking at the replay of the second fumble, I was very surprised they didn't blow the whistle and rule the play dead. Since they apparently didn't, it was a fumble. The first one was clearly a fumble, so I think a little karma was at work.

Okay I have a question on the first fumble. Does the helmet count like a hand would on the turf? I believe it does. It would require a second point of contact to be called down. In that case it was a fumble.

Holding calls were bad on both sides. Late in the game our center tackled number 99. I remember the guy in front of me turning around and saying, "if it works for them it should work for us..."