Posted on: Wednesday, December 22, 2004

WAC says two UH games 'well-officiated'

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

A two-week Western Athletic Conference review of the University of Hawai'i's football games with Northwestern and Michigan State does not indicate that officiating played a part in the outcome, commissioner Karl Benson said yesterday.

"The two games in question were well-officiated," Benson said.

Benson, in Honolulu for Friday's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, said the review by he and Jim Blackwood, WAC supervisor of football officials, came after the Big Ten Conference asked for "an explanation" for the disparity in the number of penalties called against two of its members compared with UH.

Northwestern was assessed 13 penalties for 116 yards versus UH's five for 25 yards in Hawai'i's 49-41 victory on Nov. 27. In UH's 41-38 victory over Michigan State on Dec. 4, the Spartans were whistled 16 times for 119 yards and the Warriors five for 35 yards.

MSU had two touchdowns called back by penalties and UH one.

"Anytime you have that many called back, that's definitely going to decide the game," MSU coach John L. Smith told the Detroit Free Press following the game.

Spartan quarterback Drew Stanton told the Lansing State Journal, "I was absolutely disgusted. A lot of those calls wouldn't have even happened in the Big Ten. It's kind of like the Alamo bowl last year. Those were WAC officials, too. I'm not trying to attack the WAC, but they hurt us."

Benson said "You can't look at just the number of fouls, the disparity, and use that as a determining factor whether the game was well-officiated or not."

Benson said the conference evaluated video of the two games and also reviewed UH's 12-game season and the number and type of penalties over a five-year span of UH games.

"Are they (visiting teams) at a disadvantage in Hawai'i? Yes, but it is because of other factors: "travel across multiple time zones, heat, humidity..." Benson said.

He said the review showed teams visiting Hawai'i were more apt to commit so-called "administrative slash coaching fouls (i.e. procedure, motion, offsides etc.)"

Benson said, "I'll back them (the officiating crews) up not just for the two games in question but over the course of this year and previous years. We have 50 officials dedicated to the game who go into each game having prepared the way a coach or player does trying to have a perfect game."

Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl, said Pac-10 officials will work the game between UH and Alabama at Birmingham. He said it is NCAA policy to assign neutral conference officials in bowl games.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.