Two comments:
1. We deserved to lose, because Penn State is the better team and played and schemed well. But we started off well and, had the game been called fairly, deserved to be in a close game, losing a hard, more even fight with dignity.
2. We got "crushed" both on the scoreboard and emotionally because certain referees ventured beyond ordinary incompetence into open and obvious bias territory. The PI non-call when MBS was pushed/yanked down leading to a drive-killing INT might have been incompetence--or just "letting the guys play." The follow-up "inverse" PI call on Terrell Smith on a stunningly uncatchable ball thrown nowhere near the receiver, essentially gifting PSU a TD, is a form of open, ham-handed bias that makes me sick. The non-calls on hyper-obvious, game-changing holdings by Penn State leading to big plays make me wish we just had robotic AI referees, who would act fairly, without bias, and arguably distribute their incompetence equally between both teams. The tone was set by the early-game cheating by PSU DL and LBs, leading to several false starts that killed an early drive. Call it once on the Gophers, but calling it twice in a row on the Gophers when both times it was a PennState penalty. Bias beyond incompetence killing a young QB's chance to bring a score.
We got beat because, for some reason, we couldn't cover a releasing TE (twice) and left a WR totally uncovered by lining up a CB on the wrong side of the field. Three touchdowns we gave Penn State that are not how we normally play. And we lost because a Penn State receiver who was covered like glue perfectly high-pointed a contested pass for a TD. We lost because (to borrow from Dorothy Parker), our offensive play calling runs the "gamut of creativity from A to B." We lost because our WRs, in the patterns they are asked to run, can't achieve separation and seem disinclined to leap for contested throws. Those are really big issues, dooming us to a loss--and maybe a another one or two this season. But they are not the ones that "crushed" emotionally us on Saturday.
I believe we got crushed, and our players' morale brutalized, because the players see when the referees are calling a clearly biased game. One set of "non-call" rules for PSU and a different set of unequally punitive calls against the Gophers. The players see that no matter how hard they fight the game isn't going to be called fairly. When you are locked in a battle with an athletically-superior team and the referees make several momentum- and game-changing calls that show outright bias for the superior team, it has got to affect you emotionally. It beats you down, and there is nothing you can do to change it.
So, I feel bad for how we were prepared and how we executed in the game. We deserved to lose. Our coaches need to take a look inward. Are our schemes the optimal fit for the talent we have? But we didn't deserve to be crushed emotionally in this game. That is on a couple of seemingly biased referees who appear intentionally to have ruined what could been an exciting, well-played football game featuring a debut QB who stayed calm throughout, playing in a noisy madhouse. But maybe that is what the B1G wants. The rich get a lot of highly-favored treatment in life, so I shouldn't be surprised to see the same dynamic in football, I guess.
I personally think the B1G would be a better league, more entertaining and worth following, if it made clear--seriously clear--to officiating crews "call it the same both ways." And if a referee has simply got to be biased, at least don't make it so damned obvious!
P.S. Athan is going to be a great one. He stood tall during a baptism of fire. His confidence will spill over to the offense--which needs a big shot of confidence (and some variety in play calling). I love Tanner, he has been a great for the Gophers for so long. But maybe it is time for the Athan Era to begin. Even if it means we lose a game Tanner might have won done the stretch.
