Just a little more salt in the wound from Saturday's tough loss to Stanford.
The Pac-12 Fined Lane Kiffin $10K for his comments disparaging the Pac-12 officials who blew multiple calls on both teams. The Pac-12 then suspended Safety T.J. McDonald for his hit on Chris Owusu...a hit that was clearly unavoidable.
Here are the Pac-12 Statements...
From the OCR...
McDonald was penalized for unnecessary roughness when he struck Stanford receiver Chris Owusu in the head with his shoulder in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 56-48, triple-overtime loss at the Coliseum.
"Mr. McDonald had been previously warned about illegal hits above the shoulders on defenseless opponents," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said. "In order to protect our student-athletes, it is imperative that we enforce these penalties for the safety of the game."
According the Pac-12, when a foul is called for initiating contact in the head/neck area of a defenseless opponent that does not result in a player disqualification, NCAA rules call for a video review by the conference office for possible additional sanctions.
[...]
Kiffin criticized the officials for several other rulings, specifically their unwillingness to grant USC a timeout with one second left in regulation, which would have allowed the Trojans to attempt the winning field goal.
"After numerous conversations with the conference office, we have agreed to disagree," Kiffin said.
You gotta love it.
Kiffin better use this as motivation. It's clear that the Pac-12 really hasn't fixed anything with regards to officiating. It isn't just with USC but There have been some other instances of poor officiating this season.
Larry may be visionary in how to promote the Pac-12's brand but it is clear that the brand is being tarnished because the conference continues to employ and/or not punish inept officials.
Some things never change...