I will preface that Clemson football is very good, and this is not intended to distract from what Dabo, the Clemson talent or their incredible fan support does to make Death Valley special. What is disturbing, and totally unnecessary, is the absolutely horrendous “home cooking” they receive from the ACC officials. It is no coincidence that it was not on display a week earlier in South Bend, as NBC and the Irish would never allow that to occur.
Yesterday’s game was just another example of the added benefit the Tigers enjoy from the most favorable ACC officiating. I saw no pathway to a UL win, but the combination of several critical calls and no calls, kept the game from being much closer than it turned out. Clemson is sitting at #10, and I am convinced these ACC officials are aware of what is at stake, not just about the outcome, but the margin; as both have a huge financial impact on the ACC. In addition to the “no calls” was their refusal to even review the ones that had the potential to impact the score, and minimize UL’s already slim chances of success.
31-16 does a lot more for Clemson and the ACC, than say 24-17; which was a likely outcome, had the officials called the obvious defensive holding by the Clemson CB when the score was 24-10. The offensive pass interference call on the late Hudson TD was totally “phantom“, and it was no coincidence that it occurred when the score was 31-10.
Eric Crawford correctly touched on this in todays WDRB article, but it will require someone with more influence at ESPN to draw attention to the injustice before it will ever be addressed.
Yesterday’s game was just another example of the added benefit the Tigers enjoy from the most favorable ACC officiating. I saw no pathway to a UL win, but the combination of several critical calls and no calls, kept the game from being much closer than it turned out. Clemson is sitting at #10, and I am convinced these ACC officials are aware of what is at stake, not just about the outcome, but the margin; as both have a huge financial impact on the ACC. In addition to the “no calls” was their refusal to even review the ones that had the potential to impact the score, and minimize UL’s already slim chances of success.
31-16 does a lot more for Clemson and the ACC, than say 24-17; which was a likely outcome, had the officials called the obvious defensive holding by the Clemson CB when the score was 24-10. The offensive pass interference call on the late Hudson TD was totally “phantom“, and it was no coincidence that it occurred when the score was 31-10.
Eric Crawford correctly touched on this in todays WDRB article, but it will require someone with more influence at ESPN to draw attention to the injustice before it will ever be addressed.
