Quick Links: Controversy in the Pac-12

It’s a busy day in Oregon State news, so here’s a quick breakdown of everything that’s happening.

Reports have emerged that in USC and Washington State’s game on September 21st, a Pac-12 official overruled a call on the field. The report, published by Yahoo News, states that Pac-12 executive Woodie Dixon overruled a call of targeting that had just occurred. Replay of the play appears to clearly show Washington State linebacker Matthew Tago lowering his head while USC quarterback JT Daniels establishes himself as down.

ESPN

Dixon has no training as an official, but his opinion was given weight over both the officiating crew and the command center. Both Dixon and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott have released statements, with Scott stating that Dixon’s involvement was “a mistake” and Dixon saying that he didn’t intend for his interference to be interpreted as an order, that he was just stating an opinion.

This is another black eye for a Pac-12 officiating crew that has been mired in controversy. Whether this leads to any large scale changes remains to be seen, but it’s clear at this point the system in place has no credibility.

With multiple former Nebraska recruits leaving the program to follow Mike Riley and his assistants back to Oregon State, Huskers Coach Scott Frost is growing suspicious of tampering. Frost restricted Nebraska running back Greg Bell from talking to Oregon State after he decided to leave the program.

Riley was the coach who recruited quarterback Tristan Gebbia and wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey, both of whom have transferred to OSU. Trent Bray, now the Beavers’ linebackers coach, had the same job at Nebraska when Avery Roberts was recruited, and Roberts is now at Oregon State.

““There’s no doubt in my mind that those kids were probably in touch with some people that they formerly knew that were here,” Frost said.

This makes Nebraska the second school to accuse Oregon State of tampering following their coaching turnover. Earlier this year some Hawaii players were mailed Oregon State recruiting material after a few Hawaii assistants joined Oregon State’s coaching staff.

As an addendum to that, 4 star Wide Receiver Tyjon Lindsey is now officially on the Oregon State roster, presumably the final member of the Lincoln to Corvallis pipeline. He’ll be sitting out this year, but has the potential to be a huge play maker when he gets on the field in 2019.

Jake Dukart, formerly a quarterback with the Beavers, is now officially a part of the Oregon State baseball team. Dukart was a two sport athlete in high school, but made the decision to exclusively focus on football when he came to Oregon State. A few weeks ago, he made the decision to step away from the football team. At the time, it was unclear if he would attempt to find a spot at a different school, or stay at OSU and play baseball, but its clear now he’ll be sticking around Corvallis. He should be a tremendous asset to the baseball team, and is expected to compete for the starting short stop job.

Kerry Eggers at the Portland Tribune has an extensive look at how Oregon State’s baseball team should look next year. The short version is that there should be strong pitching, not as much hitting, and more focus on small ball, but you should really go check out Kerry’s piece for yourself for the full rundown.

That’s all for today, but it was a busy one. We’ll be following some of the stories pretty closely, especially the controversy now swirling around Pac-12 officiating, so be sure to check back for more updates.