Do refs favor teams in their conference?

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Interesting article here .....

http://www.businessweek.com/article...t-college-football-refs-are-riddled-with-bias

 

[Tech93]

Interesting that it said they found ACC officials bias toward Duke and UNC. We definitely saw that against Duke this year---one of the worst officiated games I have ever watched. I hope that crew never comes back to BDS.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Interesting that it said they found ACC officials bias toward Duke and UNC. We definitely saw that against Duke this year---one of the worst officiated games I have ever watched. I hope that crew never comes back to BDS.

Yeah, that jumped out at me too

 

[awbuzz]

In some ways it's like NBA refs... some players have to take 5 steps after they stop their dribble before they'll get a traveling call against them.

 

[deeeznutz]

Very interesting note about the ACC refs and their NC bias, but I was surprised they said SEC refs showed no obvious bias. OOC games apparently weren't included, and that bias is clear and blatant. In conference games I expected to see a bias favoring the higher ranked teams.

 

[jeffgt14]

No.

 

[Boomergump]

I don't want to dispute the numbers because I didn't do any research like they did and processed a bunch of data. However, having watched SEC football for a long time, I could swear that their refs tend to favor the team that has the most at stake on a national scale. I want to acknowledge that I could be wrong and it is just gut feeling on my part. I am very surprised the numbers don't show it.

Also, look back over the GT-UGAg series for all these years. Think about the games that the SEC refs worked. Doesn't it seem there is a ridiculous number of phantom crazy calls that heavily swung the games in their favor? I am racking my brain but I can only think of one that helped us and that was the Jasper Sanks fumble on the goal line.

I am just surprised at their findings. That is all. Obviously, I don't see things between us and the SEC with a clear lens.

 

[4shotB]

Interesting article but it infers some things that I am not sure are statistically significant. For example, it says something like "ACC and BIG 12 home teams average 6.xx yards and 4.xx yards fewer penalty yards than their opponents....' and the bias of Big 12 teams MAY be something that should concern Oregon on Monday (but says UO averages 77.x plays/game while OSU runs 74.x ppg. really, is a 3 ppg differential significant? I would say the casual fan would notice no difference in pace of play given that data. So, the concept of the article was interesting but a bit of making a mountain out of a molehill imo.

I do like the idea of one pool of refs (at least for the P5 teams) as opposed to the current system (each league uses their own refs).

 

[deeeznutz]

The article specifically mentions that they only reviewed games between conference rivals, so our OOC games with Georgia weren't included.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

The article specifically mentions that they only reviewed games between conference rivals, so our OOC games with Georgia weren't included.

True. They could have a field day with that one, especially the 2014 game

 

[DTGT]

Perhaps the study’s oddest finding is that ACC refs may have hurt the conference’s strongest squads despite incentives to do the opposite.

Hello, Circle of Suck.

 

[UgaBlows]

Is there any chance of CFB ever going to neutral refs?

 

[deeeznutz]

Also refs favoring the home teams is a tell-tale sign of weak, insecure refs. They get intimidated by the home crowd and are afraid to rule against them on close calls.