Pinkel impressed by official's admission, gives his team credit for victory last week

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel got a surprising apology earlier this week from Walt Anderson, the Big 12's head of referees.

Pinkel said Anderson called and admitted that officials erred on a touchdown-negating call in the final minute of the Tigers' 21-16 loss to Iowa State on Saturday.

"For him to admit that, it said a lot about him and the integrity of the conference office," Pinkel said.

The Tigers faced fourth down from the Cyclones' 1-yard line with 26 seconds left when quarterback Chase Daniel dived into the end zone. But Missouri lineman Monte Wyrick was whistled for holding and the ball was pushed back 10 yards. Daniel was sacked on the final play.

Pinkel said during the Big 12 teleconference that Anderson told him the officials "clearly made a mistake on that last play where Chase Daniel scored."

"He said to me, 'We blew it,'" Pinkel said. "He said, 'If you call that [holding], you have to call it 40 times a game.'"

While Pinkel appreciated Anderson's candor, he was still upset for his players.

"That victory was taken away from them," Pinkel said. "It has bowl ramifications. It has financial ramifications."

Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said in a statement that Anderson agreed with Pinkel's protests based on a review of the game tape.

The Tigers (7-4, 3-4 Big 12) finish the regular season against Kansas (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday.

Pinkel said his players have turned their focus to the Jayhawks. And in his opinion, they're heading into the finale with eight victories, not seven.

"My team did a great job. They won the football game," Pinkel said.

Pinkel also said leading receiver William Franklin will miss Saturday's game and the Tigers' bowl game with a torn labrum.

Speaking of errors

The replay official for the Oklahoma-Oregon football game says he knew that Oklahoma recovered a pivotal onside kickoff late in the game.

But Gordon Riese told The Oklahoman newspaper that replay rules prevented him from correcting on-field officials who made the wrong call and awarded possession to Oregon, even though it was clear to Riese that Oklahoma's Allen Patrick had recovered the ball.

Riese also said that if he had seen the correct angle of the replay, it would have been easy to reverse the call and give possession to Oklahoma, which could have run out the clock. But that didn't happen, he said, and Oregon took advantage of the officiating blunder, scoring a last-minute touchdown to win 34-33.

The botched call in the Sept. 16 game came on an onside kickoff by Oregon before the Ducks' winning touchdown. Replays showed the kick was touched by an Oregon player before it traveled the required 10 yards, and, therefore, possession should have been awarded to Oklahoma.

The video also showed that Oklahoma's Patrick actually recovered the ball, although that aspect of the play was not reviewable.

"This was the easiest call to make, if I'd gotten the [correct] replay," Riese said. "It would have been the right call. It would have been the correct call. The Oregon kid touched the ball at the 44-yard line."

Riese said the only replay angle he saw on the play came from Oklahoma's end zone, which he said prevented him from making the correct call. But he did see something else.

"I saw the ball laying on the ground, the Oklahoma kid picks up the ball with his knee on the ground," he said. "I knew it was Oklahoma ball."

But, Riese said, he chose to follow the rules of the replay system, which meant he couldn't tell the on-field Pacific-10 Conference officials of their error -- even though the referee asked him which team had recovered.

"I can't let it go," he said. "It's something we officials have just been schooled with -- to get the call right -- and I didn't do it that day."

Bowl roulette

The Big 12 has eight guaranteed bowl spots and nine bowl-eligible teams. Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Kansas State and Missouri are assured of going to a bowl. Oklahoma State or Kansas, both 6-5 with a game left, will get the other Big 12 slot.