If you were an incompetent college football official, it was not a great holiday season. Odds were you made an incorrect game-changing call, on national television, and were then subject to the contempt of the viewing audience and the righteous anger of about one hundred football players.

Let’s begin with the Alamo Bowl, the nadir of college officiating. A ref crew from the Sun Belt Conference was assigned to the game. But the Sun Belt is a league that doesn’t use replay review — ostensibly because it’s not on TV enough — and is so small that its champion once went to a bowl game with a losing record.

The game was under Big Ten/Big 12 rules. Television replay can examine and correct mistaken calls by the officiating crew. Unlike the NFL, coaches do not challenge; all replays are initiated by an observer in the booth.

This system had never been seen to fail in college football — until that night. A called touchdown that was actually an incomplete pass was not reviewed until Michigan coach Lloyd Carr called a timeout, after which the touchdown was overturned. It was later revealed that the observer tried to call for a review but the signaling mechanism was not working properly and the ref crew had never used replay before.

The same sort of event happened later in the second half, causing Michigan to be deprived of two timeouts that it could have used when Nebraska ran the clock in the fourth quarter. Nebraska also got away with blatant pass interference in the end zone as Michigan failed — thanks to the officials — to get the go-ahead score.

Those who follow Michigan football are no strangers to poor officiating. The 1979 Rose Bowl refs awarded USC’s Charles White a touchdown when he in fact had fumbled the ball away to the U-M defense. But the frequency and effect of bad calls in the Alamo Bowl was a clear instance of officials deciding the football game.

Therefore, the farce that marred the game’s final play might be described as fitting. As Michigan employed a multi-lateral strategy recalling The Play, Nebraska’s entire team spilled out onto the field with the ball still alive. This should have drawn an illegal participation penalty. As the play came to a close, some Michigan players came off the sideline as well, and offsetting penalties could have been assessed. Or the officials could have done the most drastic of moves — awarded Michigan a touchdown, as happened in the 1950 Cotton Bowl where an Alabama player came off the sideline to tackle a runner headed for the end zone.

None of these happened. What was the right call will be a matter of discussion for seasons to come. However, it is obvious that any course of action on the part of the zebras was better than simply pretending that play was proceeding unmolested.

What was really ironic about that situation is that refs constantly implore coaches and players to “back it up” on the sideline.

The insanity continued into 2006. Alabama was awarded a touchdown on a pass play wherein the receiver’s knee was down when he caught the ball. The Crimson Tide kicked a field goal as time expired for a 13-10 win.

In the Outback Bowl, Iowa was the second Big Ten team to be thwarted by the ref crew, as a successful onside kick was wrongly overturned for an alleged offsides player. Even the Rose Bowl was controversial — on a play that went for a touchdown, Texas’ Vince Young pitched the ball with his knee down. No review took place, with the equipment excuse again being offered. (Why multiple redundant systems were not present has not been discussed, but given the magnitude of the game, any explanation is unacceptable.)

What would have happened had these calls been made correctly cannot be predicted; however, it is certain that the games’ results would have been more credible to the public at large.

Finally, there was the Gator Bowl, where Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick cleated an opponent’s leg. He was not penalized for this crass and unsportsmanlike act, as officials claimed not to have witnessed it. (Vick was dismissed from the team last week, and declared for the NFL Draft shortly thereafter.)

Games are getting too big tarnished by officiating mistakes. We are talking about the athletic arms of public institutions, toting the clout of their respective states. In the case of the Rose Bowl, it was the national championship of the sport, where close to $30 million was awarded to the two conferences.

There are too many calls being blown. These officials are being sent all across the country to run big games and their mistakes are impacting the credibility of college football. Some of this is inevitable — with today’s game going at lightning speed, no change can fully eliminate human error in officiating.

Two related concepts, however, can be more fully realized — accountability and transparency. The ratings and records of officiating crews should be logged, along with controversial calls and conference reprimands, and made available to the public. Fans and (more importantly) the media can then judge for themselves any possible incompetence, bias or favoritism on the part of officials. And maybe some of these officials need to be booted off the crew if their fingerprints are on too many games.

With the myriad rules that run NCAA sports, there is no reason for officials to escape public oversight. Until we know officials are being held accountable for their mistakes, we will have no choice but to assume that they are getting away with blowing games.

After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands. Protest to Topher Anderson at cpanders@stanford.edu.