Pac-12 reprimands UCLA's Jim Mora for calling officiating 'criminal'

UCLAcoach Jim Mora was issued a public reprimand by the Pac-12 after he referred to the officiating as "criminal" in a postgame radio interview following the Bruins' win against Arizonaon Saturday.

Mora received a 15-yard penalty for disputing a non-call by the officials late in the first quarter and, after the game, was told by UCLA sideline reporter Wayne Cook, "That [penalty] was a crazy call. We still can't figure it out."

"You're talking about when they had a lineman 8 yards downfield blocking the linebacker and they threw the ball?" Mora said. "Yeah, I guess maybe I don't know football very well. I don't know."

Arizona was initially penalized for an ineligible receiver downfield, but the call was changed, according to a statement from the conference.

"The flag was picked up when it was determined that the Arizona quarterback was out of the pocket and legally threw the ball away out of bounds," the statement said. "Per the CCA Officiating Manual, 'If the passer is legally throwing the ball away and it lands near or beyond the sideline, do not penalize the offense for having ineligible players downfield.'"

The conference said it received confirmation from the NCAA that the play was ruled correctly.

Mora also made a reference to the end of the Cal-Utahgame, in which Utah was mistakenly charged its second timeout with 14 seconds left. The Utes had first-and-goal from the 2-yard line at the time with one timeout left, as opposed to two; coach Kyle Whittingham said it changed his play-calling.

Utah ran it unsuccessfully on first down, called a timeout, threw an incompletion on second down, and the Utes were stuffed on a run play to end the game in a 28-23 loss.

"Kyle Whittingham is a heck of a football coach and a very smart man, and I saw the words come out of his mouth as he looked at the official: 'This one's on you,'" Mora said. "So, I'm going to press for answers. I think that our players deserve answers. They invest way too much in this game to not have answers. To not have it done the right way. It's criminal."

This is the second time Mora has complained publicly about the conference's officiating this season. After the Bruins' overtime loss to Texas A&M, he accused a Pac-12 official of tapping center Scott Quessenberry near the end of the game, thus inadvertently triggering the team's silent snap count and leading to a premature snap in the final minute of regulation. Replay of the sequence, however, did not indicate any wrongdoing by the official.