Pac-10 Officials Are Officially the Worst in College Football

For fans, it's always fun to pick on the official; to yell at him after you think he's made a bad call. Rarely are the fans correct in yelling at an official for making a bad call.

But after yet another incredibly dumb call by a Pac-10 officiating crew yesterday, the whole world has the right to scream at these officials.

With eight seconds to play and Washington trailing 28-21 against No. 15 BYU and looking for a big upset, Jake Locker took the snap and ran for the end zone. He made it, and with two seconds remaining in regulation, Washington had a chance to pull off an upset on a team most experts had picked to be the BCS buster this year.

What happened next will be debated for what could be the rest of the year.

Locker threw the ball over his shoulder and celebrated with his team. Typical celebration, nothing incredibly out of the ordinary here. The Huskies were ecstatic over having the chance to beat a very good team, and looked to tie the game and send it into overtime.

But wait, the Pac-10 officials realize that they have to decide the outcome of the game. So, a flag is thrown for excessive celebration, and Washington is backed up 15 yards. I'll let you watch the video for yourself and decide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap6Kn0dkbyY

To me, this is one of the worst calls in football in a long time. Why do you call an excessive celebration penalty on a kid that is just excited about his team having a chance at winning? Unbelievable.

But it happened.

The Huskies would have had an easy 20-yard extra point if this stupid miscue didn't happen. Instead, Pac-10 officials stepped in and made it basically a 35-yard field goal, which is not very easy. The kick was blocked, and I'm willing to bet it was partially because the 15 yards put a lot more pressure on the kicker to make the PAT.

The main point here is an officiating crew should not decide the game.

But they did, and it's not the first time that it's happened. Or the second. Or even the third.

Everyone already knows about the officiating screw-up in the 2006 Oklahoma vs. Oregon game. That was one of the worst mistakes since the infamous Fifth Down in 1991.

One mistake is understandable, but several over the course over the last couple of years is pretty bad.

Honestly, I'd rather have Sun Belt officials calling the game. These officials should be either fired or suspended for a while.

Officials should not determine the outcome of the game, and it's happened several times in the past couple of years because of these idiots.