It's been a season to forget for Big Ten officiating crews, the latest blunder coming near the end of UCLA's 17-15 win at Oregon over the weekend. According to the conference, officials incorrectly spotted the football with 2:16 to play on the Ducks' two-point conversion attempt that would've tied the game. Snapping from the 1.5-yard line after a personal foul flag on UCLA during the Ducks' first conversion attempt, Oregon running back Jordon Davison was stopped short of the goal line.
Two-point conversions start at the 3-yard line, and Oregon's initial try got the 1, but instead of a half-the-distance move up, officials marked off the penalty from the original line of scrimmage. Oregon needed to go for two after unsuccessfully trying a conversion earlier in the contest. "Following the first attempt that resulted in a personal foul penalty for a facemask on the UCLA defense, the ball was spotted for the second attempt half-the-distance to the goal from the original line of scrimmage of the first attempt," the Big Ten said in a statement on Sunday.
"Per rule, the ball should have been spotted half-the-distance to the goal from the end of the run of the first attempt." B1G stop for the @UCLAFootball defense 😤Watch on CBS pic.twitter.com/4D5uXBUyic Oregon coach Dan Lanning admitted his "bad decision" from earlier in the game on a failed two-point conversion, but didn't opine on the blown ball spot from the fourth-quarter situation. This was yet another instance of a Big Ten officiating crew missing some of the finer details during a game this season, an egregious mistake that might've cost the Ducks a shot at their fourth win. This marks the second straight week the conference has admitted a mistake by officials.
After Nebraska's 48-23 victory over Maryland in Week 5, the Big Ten said officials should've allowed the Huskers to re-try a missed PAT late in the game after the Terrapins were penalized for roughing-the-snapper. Instead, after Nebraska missed the attempt, the failed kick stood, and the penalty yardage was incorrectly assessed on the ensuing kickoff. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was still confused after the Big Ten's admission and said the referee told him the extra point was good, so there was no need to argue for a re-kick.
"I thought it was ridiculous," Rhule said. "I thought it was poorly handled by the officials and poorly done by us. You've never heard me say that before, but I was frustrated today.
There were things I've never had called before." Rhule assumed he would be fined for his comments around officiating, but the Big Ten decided to take no disciplinary action after admitting its mistakes. The two teams were whistled for a jaw-dropping 28 penalties in the contest for 247 total yards, the most in any FBS game this season. Referee Jim Wharrie and his officiating crew also worked the Michigan vs.
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