According to a rumor, Penn State’s playoff matchup with SMU on December 21 at Beaver Stadium will not be officiated by a Big Ten crew.
Furthermore, that might not be a bad thing.
According to footballzebras.com, a well-known social media platform with a sizable fan base, an SEC staff has been tasked with managing the first-round matchup between the 11-2 Mustangs and the 11-2 Nittany Lions.
Earlier Tuesday, Blue White Illustrated published an article about the Penn State-SMU officials.
The Football Zebras report makes no mention of the SEC officials’ names.
Officials from the four main conferences will be assigned to the four quarterfinals and the first-round playoff games, according to Football Zebras. After that, officiating crews will be chosen on the basis of merit and to prevent any conflicts, as when a crew works a game with a team from its conference.
James Franklin, the coach of Penn State, was not pleased with the Big Ten officials who officiated the Lions’ defeats to Oregon (45-37) and Ohio State (20-13).
Kole Knueppel, the Big Ten referee, officiated the Oregon and Ohio State games.
I don’t want this to be interpreted incorrectly. After the Lions’ loss against Oregon in Indianapolis on Saturday night, Franklin stated, “I give Oregon a lot of credit, but the penalties were pretty lopsided, and I have more of an issue with the ones that could have been reviewed.”
The ones that cannot be reviewed will occur. However, I believe that the ones that require evaluation must be reviewed.
In the title game, Oregon received three penalties for 24 yards while PSU received five penalties for 65 yards.
PSU was called five times for 45 yards during the Lions’ early November loss to Ohio State at Beaver Stadium. Ohio State received two 15-yard penalties.
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