Well, you must be wondering what’s wrong with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Maybe it’s sheer bad luck! Otherwise, Matt Rhule and the boys would not have fallen prey to the same referee drama for the second time in the same season. On November 29, they were facing off against the Iowa Hawkeyes when the referees thought of giving Rhule’s army a hard time by handing them out an L with their problematic calling.

Well, the Tennessee Volunteers might still not have healed from the trauma after the mishap against the Georgia Bulldogs. And now, two weeks later, yet another referee drama comes up. 

Matt Rhule’s painful history of last-second defeats

First things first, Rhule’s squad was bitten by some crucial mistakes on Friday night. Even though the Huskers had a steady start and dominated for the first 30 minutes, Dylan Raiola and Co. struggled with their passing game. The QB even got sacked and fumbled with under a minute to play, handing the Hawkeyes a recovering chance as they came up with a game-winning field goal. Now let’s come to the part about how Rhule and Co.’s fate played them badly as they found themselves amid a referee hoopla again. The national recruiting director for the Rivals, Adam Gorney, drew attention to what exactly happened. He wrote, “The ruling on the field was that the runner was down prior to the ba-l coming loose.”

Only 30 seconds had passed when the referees thought of altering their call—“The ruling on the field was the ba-l was loose and recovered by the defense, first down.” That’s how fast they changed their minds without thinking how Rhule and Nebraska would land in a deep soup from this blunder. Looks like the Huskers are yet to take themselves out of this dark history, as this marked the fourth time in seven years that they lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes on a field goal in the final seconds. This was enough to sprinkle salt on some fresh wounds. 

Josh Pate’s warning echoes after the Nebraska mishap

On September 20, Rhule was all pumped up about the Big Ten showdown between Nebraska and Illinois Fighting Illini. And no wonders for guessing who dampened the spirit of the evening. Had to be the referees. From incorrectly calling touchdowns that should have been interceptions to bogus penalties, we would not run short of examples of how bad the officiating was. 

For the worst of the lot, Matt Rhule’s QB had to bear the blows. The Huskers faced a third-and-42 in the overtime period. That’s when Raiola completed a pass to his receiver, but the Fighting Illini defender went all the way to hit the player that should have been counted as a first down. Sadly, no flag was thrown, and the Huskers had no other option than to accept defeat in overtime. Now that referee drama has become a common affair, it comes out that Josh Pate was right.

A few days back, the CFB analyst held the SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey, accountable for the ugly fate the players have to go through. He charged, “The only ones that don’t have to answer for themselves are the ones who were charged with enforcing the rules.” It’s high time the leaders pulled the reins tighter on the officials.