More than 10,000 fans have signed a petition calling for the firing of referee John O’Neill and his officiating crew after their latest litany of botched calls at the expense of Penn State Saturday at Iowa.
The Change.org petition was created after the game by Jordan Knepper who, according to his profile, hails from Mechanicsburg. At the time of writing, it had 10,875 signatures.
“John O’Neill and his team of officials have missed multiple calls that have led to Penn State losses as well as the losses of touchdowns,” the petition said. “Whether through reviewed plays or lack of reviewing their calls have been both wrong and inconsistent. At this level of play, such poor officiating should be unacceptable and these referees are not performing at the level they should be. They should be relieved of their duties.”
Penn State fans saw more flags than they would have preferred on Saturday night. There were multiple questionable calls as the Nittany Lions were penalized eight times for 80 yards, compared to only one for 5 yards against Iowa. Penn State entered the game averaging four penalties per game, fifth-best in the nation.
However, all of the penalties were far from the most controversial call of the night.
After originally being called a touchdown on the field, Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth’s catch and run was overturned after O’Neill and replay official Tom Kissinger spent what seemed an eternity reviewing the play. The result was that, based on a “judgment call,” Freiermuth came up short the of end zone. Penn State ended up kicking a field goal on that drive.
A call on the field is only supposed to be overturned if replay officials see indisputable video evidence to the contrary.
O’Neill and Penn State fans have a history of bad blood that dates all the way back to the Nittany Lions’ game against Nebraska in 2012, tight end Matt Lehman was ruled to have fumbled after he clearly scored a touchdown. Another classic showing from O’Neill came in the 2014 game agains Ohio State when Vonn Bell was controversially gifted an interception after the ball hit the ground and a Buckeyes’ field goal attempt came three seconds after the play clock expired.
The Big Ten has refused to offer any explanation of the latest gaffes by O’Neill and his crew. Following the inexplicable reversal of Freiermuth’s touchdown, PennLive’s Dave Jones sought to have a pool reporter designated to ask O’Neill about the process that led to the decision. The Big Ten responded that it was a ‘judgment call’ and there would be no further answers forthcoming.
The Big Ten’s officials have basically told Iowa communications personnel that the Freiermuth overturn was a ‘judgment call’ and that’s that. No explanation of how the process toward the decision was made and none will be forthcoming.
— David Jones (@djoneshoop) October 13, 2019
For his part, Penn State coach James Franklin held his tongue during the postgame press conference.
‘The thing that was really interesting is, we’re one of the least penalized teams in the country and we come in here tonight and it didn’t necessarily play out that way. I’ll leave it at that.’ Franklin said.
He also elected not to talk about the review process.
‘I’d love to do it, trust me,’ Franklin said. ‘I’d love to have a lengthy conversations about this. Our fans would love me to have a lengthy conversation about it. It’s not going to do any good. I’m going to enjoy the win and focus on the things that we can control. I get it, but I’m in a no-win situation here.’
