After De Carolis doesn’t let matter rest, Pacific-10 takes action

Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis received a stronger response from the Pacific-10 Conference, after he wouldn’t let the poor officiating from last weekend go away.

Conference officials acknowledged some of the wrong doing during Saturday night’s football game between OSU and Washington.

After two reviews and the assistance of the video OSU coaches sent in, the instant replay crew has been suspended for one game.

Both the on-field and instant replay team will not be considered for working a bowl game, commissioner Tom Hansen announced Wednesday.

“We want to thank Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen and his staff for reviewing the situation,” De Carolis said in a statement. “We feel the actions taken (Wednesday) are an appropriate resolution to the issues that were discussed this week. We consider this entire situation resolved and we look forward to the remainder of the season with great anticipation.”

A second review happened when De Carolis pressed the issue. The Pac-10 said after its first review that the replay crew was being reprimanded and the on-field crew performed properly.

De Carolis felt that penalty was too soft and gave some of the officials a pass. He wanted officials and athletes held accountable for the game getting out of control.

“We believe the suspensions and removal from consideration for postseason bowl assignments are appropriate penalties,” Hansen said in a statement.

The officials are being penalized for saying OSU running back Yvenson Bernard fumbled on the Washington goal line with less than three minutes to play in the game, and not stopping the game to review the play.

Replays showed he was clearly lying on the ground before he let go of the ball. The failure to review the play nearly cost the Beavers the game and created a dangerous atmosphere in the stands.

“We concluded the instant replay officials did not perform properly on the fumble play late in the game,” Hansen said. “It is clear the game officials should have been notified to stop the game and the play should have been reviewed prior to the ball being snapped for the next play.”

There was no acknowledgement of the failure to call a penalty or eject a Washington defensive tackle Wilson Afoa for pulling Bernard’s helmet off and punching him in the face near the end of the second quarter.

That was something OSU specifically asked to review a second time.

Hansen, however, apologized for director of instant replay Verle Sorgen for saying about the officiating, “It wasn’t that egregious. Unless you are an Oregon State fan.”

De Carolis took that statement as Sorgen saying that OSU didn’t matter.

“He assures me he meant no disrespect to Oregon State or its team, coaches and fans,” Hansen said. “The failure to stop the game definitely was egregious.”