Yes, Penn State got a raw deal from Big Ten officials during last year’s near-upset of Ohio State. The conference’s coordinator of officials admitted it last week, at the conference football media days in Chicago. Bill Parollo even acknowledged that mistakes made by B10 refs during the Nittany Lions’ 31-24, overtime loss to the Buckeyes last October caused the conference to change its replay-booth equipment standards. “My philosophy is, I man up,” Carollo, the Big Ten’s coordinator of officials, told the Allentown Morning Call’s Mark Wogenrich. “We kicked those calls. I’m not happy with it, I’m not flippant about it, but I’m disappointed about it. They were pretty critical calls for Penn State.” The calls in question: 1. An interception by Ohio State’s Von Bell in the game’s opening minutes that television and scoreboard replays showed wasn’t an interception, and 2. A 49-yard Ohio State field goal late in the first half that came 2-3 seconds after the play clock had expired. [embedded content] The game was broadcast by ABC. Before the game, the network alerted the Big Ten that it was having technical problems with its feed to the replay booth, where only one view was available, from an overhead camera. ABC got the problem fixed, Carollo said, but only after Vonn’s non-interception. …
Continue Reading: Big Ten official: We screwed up, twice, at Penn State-Ohio State game
