Refs at BC game have been 'bit more active' when calling FSU football games

Two days later, Florida State football coach Mike Norvell was not any happier about some of the calls made by referee Gary Patterson's crew during the Seminoles' 26-23 win at Boston College.

While he did not publicly criticize the officiating on Monday, Norvell said he has sent several "judgment" calls in to the ACC director of officials for clarification; he added that he hasn't heard any word back yet.

FSU, which took a 26-3 lead early in the third quarter of that game, was penalized 13 times for 120 yards while Boston College was penalized 5 times for 45 yards. The Eagles were flagged twice for 10 yards in the final three quarters.

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"We send them in. Like I said after the game, you can see my reaction in the game," Norvell said. "When I watched film, I had some similar reactions. There are a lot of judgement calls that get brought up throughout the game. We sent in a number of clips. Have not heard back."

While acknowledging that his team has issues that it can clean up from a rules perspective, Norvell also explained that he and his staff have tried to educate their players about how different crews might officiate games.

"In two years, we’ve had six games where we’ve had over 10 penalties," Norvell said. "We’ve had the same crew four times that has been a part of that. Some crews are a little bit more active in games. That’s our information that we need to know. We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing things as good as possible to not let that be a deciding factor.

"Trust me, we made mistakes in that game. We have to be more disciplined. At the end of the day, it’s a challenge. It’s a challenge for everybody in times. We definitely sent some [calls] in.”

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Norvell's numbers are indeed correct.

Patterson's crew handled both games this season when Florida State committed 10 or more penalties -- the Jacksonville State loss and the win at Boston College.

In those two games, the Seminoles have been hit with a combined 24 flags for 234 yards. In their other nine games, they have been penalized 50 times for 427 -- that's an average of 5.6 flags for 47.4 yards, or a difference on average of about six penalties and 70 yards per contest.

The disparity was also noticeable but not quite as drastic in 2020.

In the two games Patterson's crew handled during that season, FSU was flagged 21 times for 204 yards. In their other seven games, the Seminoles were hit with 59 penalties for 496 yards -- that's an average of 8.4 penalties for 70.9 yards, and a difference of about two penalties and 30 yards on average.

It's a small sample size, but there also has been some disparity in the number of penalties and amount of penalty yardage doled out to FSU and its opponents in games called by Patterson's crew.

In those four games over the past two seasons, the Seminoles have been flagged 45 times for 438 yards. Their opponents have been penalized 34 times for 280 yards.

Here is a look at those games:

It's also worth noting that Patterson's crew has thrown far more flags against Florida State than in any other games this season.

Based on a study of ACC box scores, Patterson's crew has thrown 97 flags in their nine games not involving FSU -- an average of 5.4 penalties per team per game. They hit FSU with 13 penalties Saturday and 11 earlier this season.

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