Never one to hold in his thoughts (even when wrong), former NFLer turned ESPN color commentator, Chris Spielman continuously criticized the officiating in the Outback Bowl. Check out some of the high points here. In some cases he was dead on, like the strange face make call on the receiver who was pulled down by his facemask by Vernell Brown, or the roughing the passer call for a phantom helmet to helmet hit. Others he was wrong on the rules, like when he was pissed that they didn't give Iowa the completion when the receiver was forced out of bounds before landing. On a few, he wasn't wrong but was perhaps unfair... the running in the kicker call, which I think was the right call as the kicker came down on the attempted blocker without forcing himself into the his path, or, more controversially, the onsides kick in which the replay looked close but it looked as if the offending player was onsides... my biased retort would be that it is a bit unfair to criticize the ref who is standing down the line based on a replay with an angle from 15 to 20 yards away which would tend to distort the view in favor of being onsides.... but then again I am biased. All in all, I enjoyed Spielman's passion even when he was wrong.
Compliments of the Gatorsports message board, one Gator fan has proof that the whole Iowa team was offsides.