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While several Texas fans — and even some impartial viewers — were dismayed about the officiating during the Texas-Oklahoma State game last week, Big 12 supervisor of football officials Walt Anderson didn’t share those same feelings.
In fact, after reviewing the game film, Anderson acknowledged there were some errors, but said he was pleased overall with the effort.
“I’ve been working on that [Texas game] all day. I’ve seen the whole tape,” Anderson told the Austin American-Statesman. “I evaluate every play, and I think we got the vast majority right. The good news was the vast majority of fouls were there and correctly called. Unfortunately, a couple of them were missed, and we’ll correct that. I’ve never seen one perfectly officiated, and I’m not expecting to do so.”
The officiating crew, led by Alan Eck, assessed 16 penalties against Texas in the 30-27 loss, which included a penalty against Texas coach Charlie Strong. Of Strong’s penalty, Anderson said, “things that were said. Some things rise to the level they’re not acceptable.”
Strong played dumb when asked about his comments during Monday’s press conference.
As noted by Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman, Eck’s crew threw a season-high 11 flags against the Longhorns in last year’s Oklahoma game. In eight other Big 12 games, officials called an average of 5.8 penalties against Strong’s team.
While it’s easy to look at the officials’ mistakes, the Longhorns' play is not blameless in the loss. Star receiver Daje Johnson had a rough game, catching just three passes for 15 yards, though he dropped more than he caught. The Longhorns were only 4 of 16 on third down. And of course, the botched punt at the end of the game led to Oklahoma State’s game-winning field goal.
It was the second time in as many weeks that special teams thwarted Texas’ attempt to take a game into overtime.
The Longhorns are 1-3 and two very big special teams mistakes away from possibly being 3-1. While Anderson admits his officials could have been better, the Longhorns could have been better, too. Texas is a young team that needs to learn how to finish games. And pointing fingers at officials is not going to make that lesson any easier to learn.
“You know, the amazing thing about this game, it is a game of life and you just gotta learn how, when you get knocked down, you gotta be able to pick yourself up,” Strong said. “And you look at two straight weekends, two straight Saturdays that you know we had it right there in our hands and let it slip away from us.
“We just have to play better and learn how to finish. We just can’t finish right now. Just gotta learn how to finish and just fight through it. You know, we’re sitting there with a three-point lead and I probably shouldn’t have gotten the call I got, but just got upset and gotta learn to just control my composure. We’ve just got to be able to bounce back, go back to work and get ready for TCU, knowing that’s going to be a big one.”
For more Texas news, visit Orangebloods.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!
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