College Football Fans Are Ripping The Orange Bowl Referees
01/09/2025 10:39 PM
The good news is that the Orange Bowl game which fans were ripping at the half has suddenly become a lot more fun as both teams finally remembered how to score touchdowns. The bad news is that the referees are still just as ridiculous as ever, maybe even worse.
Early in the fourth quarter, after falling behind 17-10, Penn State got the ball back and started driving deep into Notre Dame territory. On a first-and-10 from Notre Dame's 18-yard line, Nittany Lions running back Kaytron Allen rushed up the right side for a 10-yard gain and a key first down.
But while the referees gave the first down to Penn State, fans watching at home were practically screaming at their televisions over a blatant missed holding call on one of Penn State's outside blockers. In the clip you'll see below, No. 3 for the Nittany Lions clearly grabs the inside of Notre Dame's No. 29 as Allen is trying to get around him.
Fans in the comments all agreed on two things: The referees absolutely blew the call and have been bad all game.
How is this not a hold? 🤡 pic.twitter.com/OXM5QI8NG6
— Footballism (@FootbaIIism) January 10, 2025
"The refs miss a CLEAR holding call on Penn State. Just AWFUL officiating..." NFL media aggregator Dov Kleiman posted.
"oh so we don't call holding? Got it," Mike Golic Jr. wrote.
"That's a BAD missed holding," former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert added.
"Can't remember a time where I've seen so many missed holding calls. Obviously both ways. At least 5 egregious ones," another user remarked.
"AWFUL NO-CALL: The refs missing an obvious holding call on Penn State on their big play. Notre Dame gets screwed here," wrote another.
"Utterly ridiculous that that holding was missed. That horrific missed call was a game-changing play. This Big-12 crew should never be allowed to referee another playoff game," yet another declared.
Bad officiating has been about as big of a story as blowout games throughout this College Football Playoff tournament. Not all of them, but certainly the close games.
Sometimes you have to just let the players play, but when a call is that egregious a referee can be forgiven for not keeping the flag in his pocket.
Related: Orange Bowl Almost Made History With Its Temperature At Kickoff
