During the Boston College game, the officials picked up a holding penalty which raised some eyebrows.
It’s not like ACC officiating has a good reputation. Heck there’s even an academic study published by former poster Brickhouse (can’t tag):
https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/study-shines-light-on-officiating-bias-in-acc-other-conferences
There was also some stats floating around that the ACC never calls holding on teams playing against FSU.
I took a look (data-nerd-out in a spoiler at the bottom, TL/DL my numbers aren't perfect) and there seems to be a bias with holding calls against FSU, Pitt, & NC State while UNC benefits the most in the conference. This doesn't include special teams plays.
This is a graph of the total holding calls benefiting the team's defense minus the holding calls against their offense in ACC games. The table below is where the numbers come from. Make whatever conclusions you want, but I think there's a pattern here.
Bonus:
It’s not like ACC officiating has a good reputation. Heck there’s even an academic study published by former poster Brickhouse (can’t tag):
https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/study-shines-light-on-officiating-bias-in-acc-other-conferences
There was also some stats floating around that the ACC never calls holding on teams playing against FSU.
I took a look (data-nerd-out in a spoiler at the bottom, TL/DL my numbers aren't perfect) and there seems to be a bias with holding calls against FSU, Pitt, & NC State while UNC benefits the most in the conference. This doesn't include special teams plays.
This is a graph of the total holding calls benefiting the team's defense minus the holding calls against their offense in ACC games. The table below is where the numbers come from. Make whatever conclusions you want, but I think there's a pattern here.
- UNC only gets one holding call against them per season during ACC play since 2014. Seems a bit like a quota to me
- NC State is on par with FSU for being screwed over by holding calls. My tinfoil hat theory is that they are odd-program-out from the Tobacco Road schools. Pitt also may take the crown. Shame on them for playing in a division with UNC and Duke.
- The ACC tried their best to stop Pitt from going to the championship game with 12 holding calls against them. Sweet baby Jameis
- @ACCRefsSuck is no more?!
- I also looked at holding calls per play since, ostensibly, the more offensive plays you run then the more likely you'd get called for holding, but the same patterns emerged.
- Can you tell that the ACC really wanted to get Wake Forest bowl eligible this year?
The play-by-play data is ripped from ESPN's website. I have to search the text description for holding calls which is a nightmare.
Pittsburgh could be captured as: PITTSBURGH Penalty, Offensive Holding", "PITTSBURGH holding", or "UP holding". Each school has a few like this, and ESPN doesn't differentiate between offensive or defensive holding for some of these, so I couldn't look at 4th downs to ensure I wasn't also somehow getting defensive holds or other baloney.
That said, these numbers aren't perfect. The net numbers should sum up to 0 each year but they don't. I'll have to figure out the gaps in my system.
I can't do 2013 or earlier because it uses a different text system that I'll have to figure out for the next iteration.
Despite the issues, the good news is that I have a data set to answer weird questions like this with. The hard part is making it all work.
Pittsburgh could be captured as: PITTSBURGH Penalty, Offensive Holding", "PITTSBURGH holding", or "UP holding". Each school has a few like this, and ESPN doesn't differentiate between offensive or defensive holding for some of these, so I couldn't look at 4th downs to ensure I wasn't also somehow getting defensive holds or other baloney.
That said, these numbers aren't perfect. The net numbers should sum up to 0 each year but they don't. I'll have to figure out the gaps in my system.
I can't do 2013 or earlier because it uses a different text system that I'll have to figure out for the next iteration.
Despite the issues, the good news is that I have a data set to answer weird questions like this with. The hard part is making it all work.
