Coach Leach loses it
'Incompetence or bias?' (Mark Rosner, AAS)
Steamed with the officials after his team's 59-43 loss to Texas on Saturday, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach couldn't settle on a proper description for their work.
"It may be incompetence. It may be bias. I don't know," Leach said. "The level of officiating in this game was a complete travesty."
Leach seemed primarily angry about one drive and one official. During the drive, early in the third quarter, two replay reviews resulted in rulings against Tech.
As for the official, Leach would not name anybody, but he referred to "an Austin resident." Randy Christal, the head referee, lives in Austin.
Christal could not be reached for comment Saturday night. Big 12 Conference spokesman Bob Burda said the league would have no comment Saturday.
Leach's gripes involved four incidents in a span of six snaps.
The first was a 28-yard pass from Tech quarterback Graham Harrell on which freshman receiver Michael Crabtree made a spectacular attempt to catch a ball with one hand at the Texas 6. The officials ruled no catch, confirming the call on replay after Leach made a challenge. Three plays later, an 18-yard pass from Harrell to Eric Morris was originally ruled a touchdown. But Longhorn coach Mack Brown challenged the call, and replays confirmed that Morris did not secure the ball.
Two plays after that, Harrell hooked up with Danny Amendola for a 13-yard touchdown. But officials called holding on Tech guard Louis Vasquez, who grabbed Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle. The refs did not call an apparent late hit by Longhorn Henry Melton on the play.
"After that, they have the temerity to call us for holding," Leach said.
Tech finished the drive without scoring; Leach finished the game an angry man, although he did not raise his voice while criticizing the state of Big 12 officiating for more than 17 minutes.
I tend to agree with Coach Leach on the late hit on his QB, but it was close and a judgment call. I don't think he has much of a complaint on the other calls, though.
And if he's going to point fingers at anyone for Tech's inability to win most big games, he might start with himself. I loved Coach Leach's work at OU and think he's a breath of fresh air as a head coach, but his teams rarely beat the best teams because 1) they don't play defense and 2) his offense often isn't up to the task. Indeed, that last probably stings a bit.
That's not to defend Big 12 officiating. I watch a lot of conference games, and the officiating often seems like something more fitting for CUSA than an alleged power conference. But the officiating didn't cause Coach Leach's team to get trampled (again) yesterday.
UPDATE (11-12-2007): As Tom Kirkendall reminds, Coach Leach didn't have a similar meltdown after dubious officiating gave his team a rare win against Oklahoma in 2005.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 13:19 | Big 12 Football | Technorati
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