Conspiracy theories

Vespidae

Vespidae

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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 knew Bobby Gaston personally …. a legend among SEC officials, and he would say that it is far more transparent and accountable today than at any time previously. I guess that’s why it’s a conspiracy theory.
 

Tom

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ibeattetris said:
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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This is true for just about every sport you’ll watch starting at the high school level and up. Each conference will also have their priorities on what they want their referees to focus on for the season when reffing their conference games. NCAA (or whatever governing body the colleges are playing under) will also have their priorities for each season as well.
 

Oldgoldandwhite

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Las Vegas plays a bigger role than most people think.

Referees can make more money on one call than they can make all season.

The committee members were bribed.

I‘ve heard all of those.
 
stinger78

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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 got it down, GT33! That’s the truth!
 

T-Bone Burdell

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ibeattetris said:
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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Always seemed like playing VPI during the CPJ era we'd get called for a chop block really early in the game I guess to placate Beamer, and then they felt like they had checked that box.
 
GTpdm

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orientalnc said:
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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You did not watch the 2020 UCF-GT game, did you? The refs were actively supporting UCF’s attempt to run up-tempo…to the extent that they were allowing UCF to snap the ball before the line crew even had time to set the line-of-scrimmage marker.
 
orientalnc

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GTpdm said:
You did not watch the 2020 UCF-GT game, did you? The refs were actively supporting UCF’s attempt to run up-tempo…to the extent that they were allowing UCF to snap the ball before the line crew even had time to set the line-of-scrimmage marker.
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Dillon Gabriel threw for a career-best 417 yards and four touchdowns that game. It was because of our terrible defense. I am not going to blame the refs for that. We own that loss. UCF was #14 and deserved the ranaking. We were a soon to be 3-9 team.
 
GTpdm

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orientalnc said:
Dillon Gabriel threw for a career-best 417 yards and four touchdowns that game. It was because of our terrible defense. I am not going to blame the refs for that. We own that loss. UCF was #14 and deserved the ranaking. We were a soon to be 3-9 team.
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You are 100% correct. They were miles beyond us as a team. We deserved to lose.

That doesn’t excuse the refs working so hard on their behalf that the line crew couldn’t do its job correctly.
 
UgaBlows

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Oldgoldandwhite said:
Las Vegas plays a bigger role than most people think.

Referees can make more money on one call than they can make all season.

The committee members were bribed.

I‘ve heard all of those.
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I mean it’s ridiculous to think that at some point Vegas hasn’t paid for a ref to make a game-changing call or swallow his whistle at a crucial moment in the game
 
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