Holding penalties are not being called on the opponents of Ohio State. Holding is not called against the opponents of Ohio State at home, on the road, or at the various College Football Playoff sites. This is particularly surprising because the Ohio State defensive line is amazing, and their opponents are holding them on every play. Plus, Ohio State Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles, employs many exotic blitzes. They say holding is the most subjective call in all of football but come on. Do you think this is outrageous as well?
Holding Against Captain Jack and the OSU Defensive Line
It is said that holding occurs on almost every play, and it does against Ohio State Captain Jack Sawyer. He was being held in the semifinal victory against the University of Texas. You can look at the game tape or see that his Cotton Bowl patch was dangling by a thread on his historic 83-yard touchdown run. Nevertheless, he has not had a holding penalty called against someone who was trying to block him since 2021, when he was a freshman.
Another defensive lineman, Tyleik Williams says the Ohio State defensive line is held on every play. The entire Ohio State defense, which includes many other stellar athletes, has not had a holding penalty called against them since the Marshall game on September 21, 2004. It has been over 900 snaps.
This is very surprising because there are always Ohio State defensive players in the opposing offense’s backfield. Ohio State ranks first in the nation in total defense, pass defense, and fifth in rush defense. They are first in scoring defense and second in the nation in red zone defense. With the linebackers and the secondary playing well, holding penalties are committed against them and not being called.
Penalties In College Football
Fox Sports lists penalties in college football for and against various teams. Ohio State draws penalties and has penalties called against them. They just do not draw holding penalties. Ohio State’s defense is very good, and the numbers back it up. It makes sense that the referees do not want to give Ohio State an advantage.
Williams has been very critical of the officiating and had some comments specifically about the college football playoff semifinal against the University of Texas. He is right. What is happening to Ohio State is crazy, especially in big CFP games. Ohio State ranks 134 out of 134 Division I college football teams in having penalties called against their opponent.
Penalties In the National Football League
It is worth noting that similar statistics exist for the National Football League. It is not surprising the New York Jets were the most penalized team in the National Football League. Penalties against usually correlate with losses and the Jets were unsurprisingly terrible. The least penalized team is the Arizona Cardinals, which is surprising since they were not that good. They did not make the NFL Playoffs.
Conclusion
Officials have come under fire for the lack of penalties called against Ohio State. It is interesting to note that the officials for the National Championship Game are from the Southeastern Conference, the same officiating crew that called the Boise State-Penn State game. There were 23 accepted penalties in that game.
The officiating crew has the potential to call 20 penalties or more in the National Championship. Doing so would affect the game, which referees should not do. It is fair to wonder whether that officiating crew will call holding penalties when Ohio State is on defense. Not likely.
