WTF is Wrong with the Pac 12 Refs?

If there’s one common thing that every fan of every team can come together on it’s a hatred of the men in the striped shirts. In the minds of all of us, the refs are looking to gain some TV exposure and take away from the game experience. 

What’s going on with the Pac 12 refs puts all other conferences to shame. It’s not just one team, it’s every single game at this point. 

During last night’s Oregon State/Washington game the Pac 12 refs whistled a timeout that wasn’t a timeout, called a targeting that very clearly was not a targeting, and called 12-men on the field that had to be reviewed because there were only 11 (yes, they cannot even count).

USC fans, still primed from the refs calling two extremely questionable roughing the passer calls prior to their bye week, were haunted again last week vs Arizona. While USC ran their 2-minute drill, the refs misspotted the ball twice and allowed crucial seconds to wind off the clock before the ball was spotted and led to the Trojans not scoring before halftime. A toddler with a whistle could have done a better job. 

Other Pac 12 ref moments in the season include forgetting a 2nd down in a Washington State-Oregon game, whistling a play dead too soon during Arizona-Washington, and Oregon receiving phantom pass interference calls during their game vs Stanford.

The refs of the Pac 12 are a running joke, but they’re having real implications on this season. What happens if some of these calls aren’t made? The College Football Playoff rankings could be quite different than they are today. 

It’s beyond being unfit for the job they have. It’s an institutionalized problem in the Pac 12 that is at the crux of USC and UCLA leaving for the B1G. Luckily the refs will only have to count to 10 after 2024.

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