It was a major topic of conversation in the game thread and many were displeased. That said, I may be bit if an outlier on this one. I thought outside of the final 10 minutes of the 1st half where they devolved into 90s-00s Pac10 refs calling touch fouls, they were actually quite good compared to the refs we have seen game to game. No, they didn't call fouls consistently half to half, yes they were very whistle happy that 1st half, yes they ignored some physical contact in the second half, yes they made a couple mistakes, but at any given point in the game, however they were calling the game at that time, was consistent for each team and each team did know what would be and what would not be a foul at that time. If Illinois got a foul for a reach in, they called USC for that same reach in. If USC got a foul for bumping someone on the drive, they called Illinois for similar bumps.The refs were horrendous. I notice no one seems to have a problem with that statement when your team wins by 36.
That's all I ask for from refs: 1. Call the game the same for each team. 2. Be consistent enough that everyone knows what is and is not a foul at any point in the game (if they can call fouls consistently under the same rule definition over the entire 40min, bonus points).
So, overall, I don't think the refs were great last night, and I don't like constant whistle blowing, but I did feel this crew was much much much better at calling the game the same for each team. And that in it of itself is much better than what I've seen most of this year. So I'd say they did a pretty good job overall. I can't complain.
