Published September 10, 2011 - 4:42pm
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A painful loss for Mississippi State fans is made worse by controversial calls. A generous spot followed by an interesting measurement has Bulldog fans howling.
I’m also somewhat surprised that the Vick Ballard leap out of bounds towards the end zone wasn’t at least looked at. That play would have sent the game into overtime.
Regardless, controversial calls are a part of the game. Auburn played tough and won the game.
yea this was BS no lie but it is what is and the Tigers won
This was a terrible call. Even my wife was hollerin’ at the TV. I wonder what Slive would have to say about this?
Where is that smartbutt Auburn fan now. This was a terrible call that resulted in Auburn keeping a drive alive. Should have been a turnover on downs. Gotta love the SEC officials! I don’t mind getting beat by a better team, but loosing to bad officiating ticks me off!
Wow. I guess you guys have never heard of perspective. Look at the yardline. See how it runs diagonally. That means the camera’s perspective isn’t lined up with that yardline, and is even less lined up with the ball. Therefore, it’s possible for the ball to be over the first down marker while the camera shows daylight from its skewed perspective. Here’s a diagram illustrating the concept: http://auburnelvis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/firstdown_illusion.jpg
The illusion you are referring to is linear perspective. When you look at parrellel lines that are 90 degrees from the observer, they appear to converge the closer in you look at them. But they don’t, it is an illusion giving the appearance they are at an angle. This was not the only call during this game that was questionable, there were several. The referrees had a general attitude favoring the Tigers the whole game. When an offense is in the hurry up offense with less than a minute to play and about to score, they are going to want to call a time-out. Any ref with experience knows that. Those refs were experienced but they simply chose to ignore Mullen trying to call a time-out. Like I said there were several and don’t have time to discuss them all. When reffing a game, it should not have an impact on the outcome on the game and this one did. Don’t get me wrong, State played poorly and Auburn did some things well but the refs should not have impacted the game.
If you look at the ball, it is almost completely sideways. There is no way that we are looking at it from a 35 degree angle. maybe a 3 or 4 degree at most. But anyways; i guess teams should never rely on referees. All they seem to do is get on your bad side.
If you look at the sticks, they’re not at a 90 degree angle. If the sticks are put at a 90 degree angle, does the tip of the ball then touch the sticks? You can’t honestly say from the angle of the sticks that the ball does not touch the sticks if they’re at a 90 degree angle. Here’s an exercise for you. Put your cursor at the exact point where you think the back of the stick and the ground intersect, then move your eyes upwards, or put a piece of paper on the screen. Angles can be deceiving in a mark that close, and the referees had a much closer look at it than we do. I’m sorry that the MSU fans want to complain about losing to what they consider an inferior opponent, but the fact remains that Dan Mullen is now 2-9 against the SEC West, with the only two wins being against Ole Miss.
There are 4 referees standing over the ball making this call. Do we really think that all four of them got it wrong or that all four of them were trying to give the game to Auburn? Do we need to break out the conspiracy theories on week two? I saw what everyone else did on TV and I have no idea if he made it or not. I see what I think are bad spots in every game and there where several in this game.
MSU ran 38 more offensive plays than Auburn. That is 38 more opportunities to score points. It might have been a good call or it might have been a bad call, but that one spot was not the difference in the game.
Oh well it is what it is. If Auburn can sleep at night with this so be it.
Optical illusion? The spot was generous; if you carefully examine the video the chains were not even taught at the moment just before this photo/screencapture was taken, and the ref is rocking the ball forward a good half-inch instead of letting it lie flat. The yard line is perfectly vertical in the pic, no parallax at all. The first down marker isn’t quite vertical, but even if it were it would be clearly short of a first down if the chains were reasonably taught and the ref wasn’t “encouraging” the ball forward.
The refs did everything to give Auburn that 1st down, and when it still fell short they just called it a 1st down anyway. If you really doubt this, take a look at the position of the nose of the ball before the previous 1st down snap… it’s near the middle of the yardline. After 4th down the nose isn’t even touching the yardline. It isn’t even close. They were short several inches, not a fraction. Call it conspiracy or just gross incompetence, I don’t care. This wasn’t just a bad spot from a poorly positioned ref. Everything about this was terrible, and multiple officials played their part.
And of course that wasn’t an isolated incidence. Turning your back on the coach trying to call time out in a critical situation with seconds left on the clock? And then adding back half of the time you cost the team? Not even bothering to review a dive over the pylon that could have instantly changed the outcome of the game? And then spotting the ball a full yard short of where it went OB even if you concluded that it didn’t cross the pylon? The calls on the field went Auburn’s way every time it really mattered, and the reviews, when there was one, were unilateral as is always the case at Jordan-Hare. Dyer’s spin at the goal line was called TD on the field, Relf’s game ender was similarly close and there wasn’t a second thought about the call. How about the personal foul against State for leading with the helmet at the sideline when that clearly wasn’t the case?
And take a look at the replay on Relf’s final run again. Is that an Auburn player, diving headfirst into Relf, after his entire body was clearly lying flat on the ground? Where does Relf’s helmet wind up after the play? Where’s the flag for the personal foul, late hit as was called against State earlier in the game for a less obviously intentional case?
There should have been more time on the clock. Ballard’s dive should have been reviewed, and the spot should have been inches from the goal line if not called a TD. There should have been a personal foul called and an extra play awarded since you can’t end the game on a penalty. And of course, Auburn’s final TD should have never happened, so the final drive by State should have ended in a short FG for the win. When it was critical, the refs handicapped State at every opportunity.
I blame State’s defense for playing poorly enough to allow Auburn to hang in there. Had State played a solid game, the refs wouldn’t matter. But this was a tough road game against the defending national champs, and they played well enough to win. They just didn’t pay the refs enough to win.
The chains weren’t even taut? Did you make the picture? I don’t see the chains in the picture because of the placement of the football. You also reference the football being tilted forward. This would actually make the point further from the chains instead of closer. Square the football and the chains, and the tip of the football touches the sticks, which is all it has to do for a first down.
We don’t even know if this was the final adjustment before the referees (all four of them) looked and decided it was a first down. I would go through every excuse that you propose for your team’s loss, but the fact is that Mississippi State is still a bottom feeder in the SEC West. What’s Mullen’s record against the SEC West now? 2-10?
This was after they got about a yard on the spot.
Im just wondering when the ref”s got down to measure and blocking the cameras view,,,did one of the ref’s pull a square out of his pocket to check the angle??? And why didnt they review Ballards leap into the end zone??? Even the game announcers agreed. Total B.S. !!!!! Yeah a win is a win enjoy Auburn/Refs…Oh yeah ref’s your bonus check is in the mail…
The refs flat out, brass-assed lied as a unit.
Why? I don’t know. Maybe Auburn budgets payoff money annually. Last year: Daddy Newton This year: Refs.
Word to the wise for anyone playing Auburn: don’t get in a close score situation where outcomes can be decided by refs.