It wouldn't have been a fitting end to the 2024 regular season for the Clemson Tigers without some questionable officiating in the 17-14 loss to South Carolina. Thus, head coach Dabo Swinney was asked about the officiating in the Palmetto Bowl and it led to an interesting discussion on the state of officiating nationwide.
"You know, hey, it is what it is, you know, we had plenty of opportunity to win the game," he said. "We had plenty of opportunity. But it's disappointing. I mean, there's a couple huge plays, and again, I've never really been a part of a completion, and then they blow the whistle, and we go back to another play. Never really been a part of that. I've had a few of those this year that have been kind of okay, done this a long time, that's a first."
Swinney was then asked about the level of accountability for officials. As you might expect, his remarks indicate that he doesn't think there is enough.
"And you know that you get a lot of, 'Yeah, we agree we were wrongs'...But there's no public accountability. I'll tell you that. And this ain't no hobby for us."
Next, Swinney was asked about how to fix the officiating problems and the lack of accountability.
"I don't know," he said. "I mean, it's been, it's a problem all over the country. I mean, it is, this is, to me, been one of the worst years in my entire coaching career. This has been one of the worst, and not just here, I'm talking about just across college football. It's been really bad. I mean, bad, like, and again, like the targeting, they got some targetings they don't even look at, they don't even review them, like, they don't even review them and then you got some that, they make it up. So I don't know. I mean, it's, it's a national problem. It really is for everybody, for everybody, you know, on all sides. It's just, it's really, it's really been a tough year."
Certainly, officiating is scrutinized every college football season. However, 2024 has seen an inordinate number of high-profile gaffes on the part of referee crews.
For instance, there was a no-call for targeting on what looked like an obvious helmet-to-helmet hit in the fourth quarter that changed the course of Miami's win over Cal. Then there was the controversial call that ruled that Minnesota was offsides on a recovered onside kick as the Golden Gophers tried to compete a massive comeback against Michigan.
Or who could forget the controversy in Austin this year when the officials reversed a pass interference call and credited Texas with an interception against Georgia but only after the game had to be halted as fans threw debris onto the field?
Those are just a few of the awful officiating moments that have garnered national news this year. Swinney was asked if the problem was the actual rules themselves or the way the officials are trained.
"It's both," he said. "It's both. I just think, you know, you probably need full-time people doing it. You know, these are big, big moments, you know, at this level, I mean it's big and you got some just unexplainable, unexplainable stuff...I mean...these are game-changing things, right? Like these, again, these coaches are, this isn't a hobby. This ain't a hobby for us, you know? And these players, they work really, really, really hard.
"...Anytime you have people involved, you're gonna have some mistakes. But those were, like, there's been some just like, wow, I can't believe that happened, type moments. And then I think some of these reviews that have gone on, you know, there's just not a lot of transparency. So I don't know. I don't know. I'm I would, I would think you probably ask any coach. That's probably one thing all of us coaches probably agree on."
Swinney is correct when he says that there need to be just national officials, not conference-affiliated crews. He said that after the SEC crew that worked the Palmetto Bowl supposedly told him that the way part of the game was going to be called would be different than Clemson had seen it called all season.
"....the head ref comes up to me before the game," he said. "This is before the game the other day. And I won't get into what we talked about, but it's completely opposite of how it's been called. And he tells me right before kickoff, 'Now, listen, if, if your linebackers do this, then that's delay a game.' And this is what we've done all year. So now we're having to scramble in there...and he's like, 'Well, that's just how we've called it in our league all year.'
"So, I mean, I can't blame him if that's what they've been instructed to do, and in their league, that's, you know, all he can do is do what he's been told to do. But anyhow, we do it, and now suddenly you're having to change something, you know. So this kind of, it's kind of frustrating, but, but again, there's no national standard. And again, I would say most coaches, if there was a way, you wish you had, you had a national standard."
Certainly, the officiating in the game needs to improve because there is too much on the line for games to be impacted by officiating errors. Clemson has seen its share of that this year and Swinney's ideas on how to make meaningful changes need to be taken seriously by the NCAA.