Pac-12 finally intervenes in Wisconsin-Arizona State game aftermath

Sep 14, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham reacts after beating the Wisconsin Badgers 32-30 at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

If you don’t remember, the Wisconsin-Arizona State game had the weirdest ending that does not need recapping but let’s just say there was some bad officiating on the side of the refs. If you watched the game on Saturday night, you figured the refs did something wrong when at the end of the game, they ran off of the field.

So today, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced via press release that those officials have been reprimanded by the conference. Just when you thought we could get away from officiating problems in sports, NFL replacement refs last season and Tim Donaghy in the NBA, and now it reared its ugly head in college football.

Bryan Fischer, senior correspondent of the Pac-12 Networks gives more insight on what else could happens to this officiating crew:

According to CollegeFootballTalk, in the release, the Pac-12 acknowledge that Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave did the following:

"“touched his knee to the ground and then placed the ball on the ground,” adding that “[t]here was initial uncertainty [among the officials] over whether the quarterback had taken a knee, given himself up or fumbled the ball.”"

The most ridiculous part of this situation is that the officials moved without any urgency to get the ball set for the final play of the game, which eventually cost Wisconsin a victory on the season.

In the Pac-12 release, Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen said “It’s accountability, which at the end of the day is what we asked for.” Hopefully, this doesn’t happen again this season in college football because God knows what can happen if this happens to the home team, chaos might ensue.