As a fan in any sport, there's no worse feeling than when a referee clearly misses a call as your team faces the punishment but, nothing is hardly done to rectify the mistake. The leagues will do pool reports even admitting they made a mistake but, the team never gets it's punishment removed, the game doesn't restart from that point, and most maddening, the officials are never truly penalized.
The Big 12 is becoming one of the first leagues to not only hold its officials accountable but, they're doing so publicly. This weekend during the Kansas Vs Missouri game, the officials allowed a punt to occur on a free kick which violated the NCAA Football rules. Rather than admitting the mistake and moving on, the Big 12 is taking it a step further and removing the crew from it's next scheduled assignment on Friday Night.
Big 12 announces its officials in Saturday's Kansas-Missouri game allowed a punt to occur on a free kick in violation of Rule 2 Section 16 Article 6 of NCAA Football rules. That Big 12 officiating crew has been removed from its next scheduled assignment this Friday
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 9, 2025
In the statement the Big 12 released, Chief Football Officer Scott Draper said the following:
"We believe we have one of the best officiating programs in college football, when the Conference's high standard for officiating is not met, the Big 12 will take action."Scott Draper
While the Big 12 pulling officials off of an assignment isn't the biggest news ever, to see a league admit its officials made a mistake and to punish them for it is refreshing. Far too often, officials are allowed to make a mistake and then they're never punished for it while the players, coaches, and fans are left to deal with it.
It'll be interesting to see going forward if the Big 12 continues to set an example or if the other conferences will follow suit. The officials having their mistakes held against them should only make for better officiating which everyone will be on board with.
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