Being a Buckeye living close to Clemson in South Carolina I question the decision makers for putting SEC officials in charge of officiating at the Fiesta Bowl.
it is true that I don’t feel that the officiating team went onto the field with the intention of calling a biased game but to deny that your perception of an event that occurs may be influenced by bias is not an realistic view.
There are undeniable differences in culture which are quantifiable North and South of the Mason Dixon line. In life very few issues are simply black or white. We witness it everywhere in life that most events or views on issues fall into the gray category.
Take a look at bias in our country today as far as perception goes. In the classroom, in the media, in taxes, in the law, in politics. Almost all points of view are biased by one means or another. To deny that does not exist in sports is unrealistic.
It has been debated on these forums about bias in coverage on ESPN. You can extend that to bias on the selection committee and the debates surrounding the placement of teams in rankings. You can see it in the NCAA when it allows teams to play 8 vs 9 game conference schedules and schedule FCS opponents and then not penalize them for their weak schedules in the rankings.
To deny there is bias woven in the fabric of life is to live with your “head in the sand” in a make believe world.
I contend that having an SEC crew officiating the Fiesta bowl knowing what I know about living in the South was a very bad decision. I don’t know what we could have done to change that but I believe that bias crept into decision making during the game. I think that SEC officiating shaded decisions in favor of a Southern team and against a BIG team. I think the case could be made for calls made and more importantly for calls not made.
What can we do about it? Not much. Can we quantify that it occurred? Probably not. Can the officiating crew justify each action they took? Of course they can. It is all point of view in a gray area.
Was it it fair and balanced? No I don’t believe it was. Did we shoot ourselves in the foot in several of these instances? Yes we did.
I just don’t think we will ever get a fair shake in a SEC officiated game when we are facing a Southern team. Just not a level playing field!
