It's An Outrage

Strong reaction from OU fans after Saturday's game between OU and Oregon. A couple of bad calls have fans, commentators and even the University of Oklahoma President complaining about the officials

Monday, September 18th 2006, 10:50 am

By: News On 6

Strong reaction from OU fans after Saturday's game between OU and Oregon. A couple of bad calls have fans, commentators and even the University of Oklahoma President complaining about the officials who called the game.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says it was the talk Monday morning on Tulsaâ€™s 1430 â€˜The Buzzâ€ sports radio. Caller: â€œIt's just flat out wrong.â€ King: â€œThey need to figure this out.â€ Jeremy: â€œYou play this game long enough and you're going to have situations like this.â€

And it was the outrage on the airwaves from ESPN2. â€œIt was obviously a bad call. And the Oklahoma City station, CBS station, has footage of the play, showing the Oregon player touching the ball, before it goes to the Oklahoma player, who is trying to hand it to the official as he's calling Oregon's ball."

The disputed calls went against OU on two plays. It was exactly the kind of call that should have been impossible with instant replay and instant review. But even after the plays were reviewed - the ref's decision made on the field still stood.

King: â€œI'd be real surprised if this crew isn't sat down for a while and that means a loss of pay for them.â€ Caller: â€œHow could you miss these two in a row, it's just flat out wrong and these people should never be calling a game again.â€ King and Jeremy: â€œand they've got almost two weeks to sit around and think about this situation. And you know they want to get out on the field.â€

The hosts at â€œThe Buzzâ€™ say the controversy has fans as mad as they've been in a while. They've seen bad calls before, but think this one was a bad call and a bad review - and a loss that shouldn't be.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren has now got involved. OU announced Boren is sending a letter to Big 12 Conference commissioner Kevin Weiberg in which Boren says the - quote - ``lapse of accurate officiating'' is - quote - ``an outrageous injustice.''

Boren wants Weiberg to take several steps including asking for an apology from the Pac 10 for what Boren calls ``gross errors in officiating'' and to ask that the game not be recorded as a win or a loss by either team.

[picture courtesy ABC/ESPN Sports]