Presuming the Gators get invited to a bowl game next year, I think the first question to ask is, “Who’s officiating?”
The Capital One Bowl was very refreshing this year, because I knew we were going to lose and all the stress was gone. When the officials missed a blatant and obvious hold on the *very first play of the game*, one that could have resulted in two points for Florida rather than the eventual seven for Michigan, my first question was, “Who the heck is officiating this thing?”
When I heard it was the ACC, I relaxed. Game over, we lose, enjoy the show, no refunds. The ACC hasn’t been doing much right lately, and their officials’ skill in recognizing “holding” has never been a resume bullet point. The Gator jerseys must look like salt-water taffy tonight.
Oh, and there’s this new thing called “blocking in the back”? It’s bad. You’re not supposed to let teams do it.
Some of this is sour grapes, of course, and I’ve got the crud and that’s surely affecting my outlook. Yet I think there exists a fundamental issue of fairness that extends beyond a single game, or even a single sport.
The rules of a game exist for a reason: to provide a level playing field, an amount of uncertainty, to define the game itself. If one side is allowed to exploit loopholes, you’re not really playing the game.
That’s why performance-enhancing drugs in major league baseball are getting such attention. That’s why gymnasts lose major points for stepping one millimeter outside the line on the floor exercise. That’s why pinball games have TILT. Everybody has to play by the rules.
Make no mistake: Michigan was big, and strong, and fast, and talented, and certainly motivated. But then, so was Florida– maybe not as big and strong, but maybe faster and more talented. We’ll never know, because the ACC officials suppressed the TILT by failing to enforce adherence to the rules– *all* of the rules– by which I mean the old tired rant about “holding”.
(It just so happens that this particular “failure to enforce all the rules” turned out to Michigan’s advantage. I refuse to attach any more significance to the situation than an accident of topology– a failure to enforce a different subset of rules might just as easily turned the tide Florida’s way, which makes the overall situation no better.)
To reiterate the point: The rules of a game exist for a reason, and it should not be within the realm of a small group of officials to influence the outcome of a contest by applying them in an arbitrary manner. Some form of checks and balances needs to be devised in order to ensure a level playing field.
