Conspiracy theories

stinger78

stinger78

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orientalnc said:
From X today:

What’s the college football conspiracy theory in which you most passionately believe?

Mine is that ESPN needed an SEC team in the CFP for ad sales and lobbied HARD for the CFP to include Alabama over FSU.
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I'd believe that if they just put Bama in over Texas. That is the much more arguable, less negative-optic laden choice. However, are you going to screw over your newest 'big fish' to the conference before they even get there?

That F$U (and UGAg), it appears, have both now quit on the season, with multiple key players opting out, makes this much less of an issue to me.
 
Northeast Stinger

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My conspiracy is that referee crews are given particular instructions before big games. The instructions do not involve throwing games or anything criminal but they do involve particular story lines.

It could be deciding they are going to call certain penalties really strictly like personal fouls. Or they are going to be lax on all but the most egregious holding calls on passing downs. Or they are going to work hard to protect a star quarterback or, conversely, they are going to “let them play.”

It just seems some games have a predetermined rhythm of how the game is going to go and teams and coaches have to learn and adjust. Unfortunately, the kind of game the refs call often favors one team’s style of play over another.
 
orientalnc

orientalnc

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Northeast Stinger said:
My conspiracy is that referee crews are given particular instructions before big games. The instructions do not involve throwing games or anything criminal but they do involve particular story lines.

It could be deciding they are going to call certain penalties really strictly like personal fouls. Or they are going to be lax on all but the most egregious holding calls on passing downs. Or they are going to work hard to protect a star quarterback or, conversely, they are going to “let them play.”

It just seems some games have a predetermined rhythm of how the game is going to go and teams and coaches have to learn and adjust. Unfortunately, the kind of game the refs call often favors one team’s style of play over another.
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I know the refs talk about certain problems the teams may have had in previous games. Or players with issues. They also know about players (QBs especially) playing with injuries. I do not think they favor one team over the other. At least not consciously. The ideal game for refs is one where no one thinks about them after the game.
 
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Sheboygan

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Northeast Stinger said:
My conspiracy is that referee crews are given particular instructions before big games. The instructions do not involve throwing games or anything criminal but they do involve particular story lines.

It could be deciding they are going to call certain penalties really strictly like personal fouls. Or they are going to be lax on all but the most egregious holding calls on passing downs. Or they are going to work hard to protect a star quarterback or, conversely, they are going to “let them play.”

It just seems some games have a predetermined rhythm of how the game is going to go and teams and coaches have to learn and adjust. Unfortunately, the kind of game the refs call often favors one team’s style of play over another.
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Agree. Referees don't live in a vacuum. They see the headlines and try to sense " which way the wind is blowing", IMO almost subconsciously. It's not blatant, but very subtle. It appears, at vital times, their thumb is on the scale. :unsure:
 
DvilleJacket

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ACC is viewed as a weak conference and the bellcow this season at one time looked like they wouldn't even make a bowl.
 
bobongo

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Northeast Stinger said:
My conspiracy is that referee crews are given particular instructions before big games. The instructions do not involve throwing games or anything criminal but they do involve particular story lines.

It could be deciding they are going to call certain penalties really strictly like personal fouls. Or they are going to be lax on all but the most egregious holding calls on passing downs. Or they are going to work hard to protect a star quarterback or, conversely, they are going to “let them play.”

It just seems some games have a predetermined rhythm of how the game is going to go and teams and coaches have to learn and adjust. Unfortunately, the kind of game the refs call often favors one team’s style of play over another.
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Calling the game loose or tight may have that effect, but I don't believe they do it consciously. Not very often, anyway. One notable exception is the way they rushed the ball into play when UCF played Tech a couple of years ago. That clearly favored their hurry up offense. One would think the UCF coaching staff got in their ear before the game.
 

5277hike

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Jim Prather said:
That’s not a conspiracy. That is an axiomatic fact 🤣
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A pet peeve more than a conspiracy. Good dbs on good teams get a lot of leeway in coverage, particularly against players who are not superstars or are not on top teams. Conversely, lesser known dbs going against top receivers get called way more often for the same coverage. The Michael Jordan effect I guess.
 
ibeattetris

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Northeast Stinger said:
It could be deciding they are going to call certain penalties really strictly like personal fouls. Or they are going to be lax on all but the most egregious holding calls on passing downs. Or they are going to work hard to protect a star quarterback or, conversely, they are going to “let them play.”
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This is how it actually works and is not a theory, fyi.
 

GT33

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ibeattetris said:
This is how it actually works and is not a theory, fyi.
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People struggling with inconvenient truths often delude themselves into believing that something is part of a conspiracy theory. That crap started becoming fashionable 3 decades ago or more, makes tolerating the harsh world easier. We all know:

Sec teams cheat, we’re not any good at cheating at all. Damn, it’s as plain as day. The fact there’s no equation for it in a calculus book doesn’t negate the fact they all cheat big time.

Refs purposefully screw GT, only give make up calls at end of game when it’s out of reach to make it look even in the final box score. We’ve seen it a thousand times for more.

ACC refs hate ACC teams during OOC games, enjoy screwing them over any way they can. The favorite teams need to win and they are not in the ACC

The NCAA will punish GT any way they can and will level a penalty severely disproportionate for the level of infraction, so bad everyone else laughs for decades about it. Used t-shirts anyone?

Ma Tech was always out to get you. The pinnacle of success for them is if they could do it right before graduation. Tell me it didn’t happen to you and we’ll know your daddy’s rich and a big donor or you’re lying.

Astronauts landed at a movie theater set outside of LA and not on the damn moon. It’s the only way the camera crew was there ahead if time, duh.
 
ibeattetris

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GT33 said:
People struggling with inconvenient truths often delude themselves into believing that something is part of a conspiracy theory. That crap started becoming fashionable 3 decades ago or more, makes tolerating the harsh world easier. We all know:

Sec teams cheat, we’re not any good at cheating at all. Damn, it’s as plain as day. The fact there’s no equation for it in a calculus book doesn’t negate the fact they all cheat big time.

Refs purposefully screw GT, only give make up calls at end of game when it’s out of reach to make it look even in the final box score. We’ve seen it a thousand times for more.

ACC refs hate ACC teams during OOC games, enjoy screwing them over any way they can. The favorite teams need to win and they are not in the ACC

The NCAA will punish GT any way they can and will level a penalty severely disproportionate for the level of infraction, so bad everyone else laughs for decades about it. Used t-shirts anyone?

Ma Tech was always out to get you. The pinnacle of success for them is if they could do it right before graduation. Tell me it didn’t happen to you and we’ll know your daddy’s rich and a big donor or you’re lying.

Astronauts landed at a movie theater set outside of LA and not on the damn moon. It’s the only way the camera crew was there ahead if time, duh.
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You put a whole lot of **** in my mouth that I didn't say.

I read an interview with a retired professional football referee a couple years ago. He did not say that refs ever targeted specific teams or ever set out to sway games. He did specifically say tey would discuss how physical they would let dbs play, what specific penalties both teams seem to make to watch out for. Coaches also are given a chance to speak to the refs about specific penalties they are worried about and the refs will discuss how they will discuss these.

The refs are not sitting there saying "hey let's not call holds in the third and fourth quarters", but they are meeting before the game to discuss how they expect the game to be called.
 
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