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Does anyone think Bookmakers influence College Football?

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SWOhioBuckeye

Junior
I'm not making a definitive statement here, just looking for general thoughts. But it seems to me there have been some horribly called games in recent years. Not just against OSU but overall. I just can't fathom that someone at the College football level that gets paid to officiate can miss that many calls. I know that there was more to our losing than just the officiating, but if I can see the holds and spot the ball in real time watching on telivision how do 4 officials miss it on the field?

:(
 
I think if there is an argument to that end, then replay puts a big dent in it. Yes, one can not call holding or whatever, but big, big game-changing plays (witness the Michigan-Notre Dame contest) are now reviewable. I don't the officials (e.g. Big Ten officials) are paid off...I just think they suck.
 
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Bucklion said:
I think if there is an argument to that end, then replay puts a big dent in it. Yes, one can not call holding or whatever, but big, big game-changing plays (witness the Michigan-Notre Dame contest) are now reviewable. I don't the officials (e.g. Big Ten officials) are paid off...I just think they suck.
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I agree that replay prevents them from blowing games outright, but non calls can't be reviewed, and it's the lack of calls against PSU that looks suspicious to me. Earlier in the week Beano Cook made a comment that the reason PSU didn't win part of the national title is because the coaches were paying them back for all of the corrupt officiating that went on in the 80's. I'm not saying that's what happened, just that something smells.
 
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Even though there are that many refs on the field they can't possibly see everything. They don't have the luxury of different camera views that we might have at home. If they have a 300lb lineman in front of them it might obscure thier view a little
 
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scarletandgrey said:
Even though there are that many refs on the field they can't possibly see everything. They don't have the luxury of different camera views that we might have at home. If they have a 300lb lineman in front of them it might obscure thier view a little
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And they also have to make a ton of bang-bang decisions. That pertains to penalties as well as in-bounds type calls. Linemen, for example, know when they're holding, so they might do it for a second to slow someone down and then stop quickly. Now they blew a couple of obvious ones Saturday (and also called a few on each team), but they aren't always obvious. There's been a lot of bad officiating, but nothing to indicate that anyone was doing anything intentionally.
 
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SWOhioBuckeye said:
I agree that replay prevents them from blowing games outright, but non calls can't be reviewed, and it's the lack of calls against PSU that looks suspicious to me. Earlier in the week Beano Cook made a comment that the reason PSU didn't win part of the national title is because the coaches were paying them back for all of the corrupt officiating that went on in the 80's. I'm not saying that's what happened, just that something smells.
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Beano cook is a moron. I saw that post earlier, and thought nothing of it. He has LESS credibility than Tom Friend in my book.

Holding calls weren't made b/c holding calls are never made. Holding is rarely called in college nowadays, and when you have dominant lineman on D it's obvious. It was this way in 2002 & 2003, and now again in 2005 with Kudla and Carp.

They could have been homefield refs too. That's a much easier conspiracy than the refs being paid off by the bookmakers.
 
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Of course guido could have his hand in the cookie jar but I highly doubt it. I think for the most part football has always had bad calls and no calls most of us have learned to accept them as part of the game (even though I don't like them)
 
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If they do, its players that are on the take... officials blowing holding calls aren't keeping Troy Smith from throwing picks. Furthermore... not only are playes reviewable.... but a decisive close play would have to present itself... people who fix games want sure things... they don't want... "hey here's some extra cash in case you can blow a call where a guy gets his foot down."

Accusations happen once in a while, I guess (I think UCLA and Cade McNown were investigated and cleared a few years ago)... though basketball is much more at risk than Football... one player being 20% of the starters... compared to football where one guy is less than 5%

At any rate... if you were to look for that kind of thing.... you don't do it in a game with a 3 point spread, you do it in a game with a 28 point spread and get a couple guys from the favored team to only win by, say 21. And even then you need a group of players to assure a particular outcome... and the more people you involve.. the more risky it becomes.

So, my point is, why not stick to horse racing or boxing... (not saying it goes on there, regularly... just saying... its a lot easier in theory )

So... the long and short of it, the officials just suck.
 
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ScriptOhio said:
I recall a few instances in college basketball where players were paid to effect the outcome of the game. If it could happen in basketball it probably could happen in football too.
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I think that IF college football is being influenced by gamblers, this is where it's happening. I don't have any proof that it's happening, nor do I know of any instance that would lead me to believe that gamblers are getting to the players.

But it's hard to say that it's never happened, because you'd just need to find one instance that it has happened. I believe that in all the history of gambling on sports, a player has purposely thrown a game because of gambling. It seems too unlikely that it hasn't.

The frequency of these acts, I believe, are few and far between. That goes for the times a coach has been paid off, or a player, or a referee, or anyone involved in the game. When you see a player drop an easy touchdown, or a referee miss an obvious holding penalty, it's much more likely that it was a mistake on someone's part.
 
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I would not be surprised to learn that an official on occasion has taken a few bucks to influence a game, and if he did replay would have no effect. All it takes is a well placed holding call now ant then to turn an outcome.

Widespread? Not a chance. Any form of collusion? Even less of a chance.
 
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