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I am watching the UT game. The refs just gave Mack Brown and coaches a "Sideline Warning" - what is the ruling on this and did Bennett get a "Warning" first before the flag?

Just saw that too. According to the radio guys, Bennett did not get a warning, and that was what he was freaking out about. Do you have to get a warning before you get a penalty?

you always get a warning. I was looking at the first penalty-I believe it was on the assistant-whoever was wearing the red hat and headphones.

it was Jim Gush.

What was the actual infraction? ...first and second penalty. I take it Bennett said a magic word for the second. If so, that situation should have been defused by the referee before it got that far. But, he was content to park in the middle of the field al day long.

I don't like our coaching staff creating that situation for our kids. But, more than that, I don't like seeing officials handing an undeserving team a chance to get into a game they clearly hadn't initially shown up to play. Toss the coach. But don't penalize and reward the teams. I believe that game would have been over after our next possession, absent those two walk-offs. Tulsa is no Texas.

According to The Dallas Morning News, the first penalty was on Jim Gush. He came off the sideline to yell at McCray.

The ref threw the flag WITHOUT EVER GIVING A SIDELINE WARNING. Bennett felt that was unfair and inexcusable, and told the refs about it... Which resulted in another flag.

It’s one thing to blow a judgment call, it’s another thing for refs to just blatantly disregard the rulebook.

Those two penalties completely changed the complexion of the game. Without them, I doubt it would even have been very close. We’ve been complaining about shoddy WAC referees for years. I hope that moving to CUSA will afford us an upgrade.

That's [deleted], I hope SMU Files a formal complaint with the WAC

Like in baseball, the officials are supposed to be unbiased and capable of maintaining reason in the heat of competition. However, also like baseball, the officials of today often have bigger egos and hotter tempers than the coaches and players. (Remeber Ken Kaiser?) That seemed to be the case Saturday. This official (I think it was the Line Judge) needs to be given the opportunity to seek alternative Saturday activities, given his lack of control. His job, in these cases, is to defuse rather inflame. Thank goodness for the Umpire who did step in and separate the two combatants before additional yardage was marked off. And where in the hell was the Referee? That guy was about as decisive as a whipped pup; all day long. Would not talk to our coaches on either the called back punt return or the chop block no-call. And then, he probably wonders why the frustration level was high. My TCU friends tell me not to expect any better from CUSA. And we've already seen the Big 12 is in worse shape than the WAC.