OfficialObserver

C’mon Tobus.How do you figure? He’s going to take him down and ride him? Doubtful. Def no back points. I’d give Zain a takedown. The most overrated three timer ever.

First off, Bob Burda is not an official. He's the guy in charge of the Big 12 conference for wrestling. The officials have zero sayso in matters like these.

CJC, man you are correct. That is really hard to stomach and I don't know either one of the two guys. What makes it even worse is the guy who had his hand raised went on to easily win the national title so you have to figure the other guy could have done so as well. Really upsetting to me.
I officiate and I realize it's almost an impossible job to keep everyone happy but one thing I try to do that I see happen time and time again is to listen to the coaches. So many times at both high school and college level I see referees who literally refuse to even entertain a discussion from a coach on a subject. They have this unbelievable idea that they are completely in the right and the attitude with which a lot of them show this really bothers me. There's nothing more important than getting the call right whether it makes you the official look like a dickhead or not. These kids have worked their entire lives to get to this point and to go out there and either have an agenda or refuse to even accept the fact you could be wrong and listen to other options just blows my mind.

Agreed and argued that in here to ad nauseam.  Nolf lifting his foot up right before his hand touched the mat was probably one of the more amazing things he did in his college career. 

That should be getting more press than the "slam".

Hidlay did not take Nolf down,  but the ref the ref that called my kid for stalling in an NCAA TB-2(or 1?) and then didn't call his opponent in the very next period for the very same thing ought to be be ashamed of himself.
With respect to Nolf, that was a fantastic call. Nolf had no more than one point of contact on the ground.  The fact that the ref notices that is remarkable. 

How can you lose to someone outside of the Top 100 when there's only about 80 teams in Division 1?

There was a match last week with a textbook danger/2 call after which the announcers spent the entire rest of the match arguing that it wasn't a takedown (which it clearly wasn't). 
I think it was a student team not a network broadcast so not overly alarming but anyone watching the match who didn't know the rule and to just ignore them would have thought the result of the match was a travesty. 
I for the life of me can't remember which match. My doctor assures me this is not a cognitive problem but rather having too much knowledge accumulated. 

it's always amazing to me how participants in each sport think they are so much more athletic than participants in other sports.  In this case, the wrestling fans over exaggerate the athletic prowess of their participants.  Their are outliers in every sport.  CC Sabathis was mentioned.  Well, see Sam Stoll for wrestling.  The best basketball player in history struggled mightily in AA baseball.  A former Heisman winning QB that won a playoff game in the NFL can't reach the majors.
Quick anecdote, my high school wrestling team was ranked top 20 in the nation my senior year.  We always played basketball games during Christmas break just to do something different.  Watching 95% of the guys on my team try to dribble and shoot was high comedy.
Athletes in all sports have a particular skill set that they work to develop and become successful.  I think, unless you are a freak like Bo Jackson, Deion or Jim Brown, it is crazy to think that somebody can pick up a golf club and be on the PGA tour in 3 years (or the majors or NBA) when they are so far behind the thousands of others who have dedicated their lives to reaching that point.
Conversely, do you think a 245 lb NFL LB could train in wrestling exclusively for 3 years and make a world team?

I would view golf as more of a sport than bowling, billiards, NASCAR.  Great golfers have to display a lot of core physical gifts -- hand-eye coordination, strength, precision, and have to be able to focus, concentrate, and compete like great athletes.  
Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, and others are much better athletes than the people in the other mentioned sports/endeavors. 
But golf is a game where a 43 year old with a battered body just won a major tournament, where people in their 40s have won a fair amount, and where a 59 year old almost/should have won a big title several years back.  So it's not the same as wrestling, the big four professional sports, tennis, and others. 
Even with respect to baseball.  No 43 year old could be a top baseball player (position player anyway; only exception could have been Barry Bonds, but he was one of the top ten players ever and then threw massive amounts of steroids on top of that).  Baseball players generally top out at 27 or 28, then fall off, and are usually out of the majors by their early or mid 30s; only Hall of Famers can keep playing at a high level into their late 30s.  The classic example of this was when Willie Mays, probably the best player ever, tripped and fell on his face in the World Series trying to track a fly ball in his last year at age 42.  Pitchers use to occasionally pitch into their 40s, but that hasn't happened much lately,  either.  
Golf is a different thing physically.  The dropoff in physical function that happens to everyone starting in their late 20s and unstoppably so in the mid-to-late 30s can be overcome more so in golf than in the "real" sports.  Most of that is because you're playing the course, not other people.  If you drive the ball 10-15% shorter than you used to, you can still find a way to manage the course and win some tournaments, though probably less than you used to.  If you are 10-15% less strong, fast, endurance, etc., you won't beat a number of great wrestlers in a tournament; can't get around on a major league fastball consistently; can't get up and down the basketball court and guard top players, etc.  

Total Reviews = 127
Coaches Challenges = 96
Officials Review = 32
Calls Overturned = 27 / 127 = 21.25%
In other words, 1 out of every 5 reviews was changed.
This information is right on FloWrestling website.

Reaction time exists in every situation except two:
1. Rear Standing Hand Touch Takedown (both wrestlers must be on their feet when one wrestler gains rear standing control and a hand touch occurs)
2. Locked Hands while on the mat
Other than those two situations, reaction time applies.

The only situation where there is no reaction time on a takedown is when a wrestler has standing neutral control of their opponent and a hand touches. Every other instance requires control beyond reaction time. From the rulebook:
Section 2. Takedowns Art. 1. Match Takedowns. A takedown shall be awarded when, from the neutral position, a competitor gains control by taking the opponent down to the mat in bounds beyond reaction. Exception: Rule 4.2.2 
Art. 2. Hand-Touch Takedown. To award a takedown, reaction time is not required in instances in which a wrestler has standing neutral control of their opponent and the defending wrestler's hand comes in contact with the mat. (See illustrations)
Art. 3. Neutral Danger Zone Takedown. When in the neutral position, the referee shall announce a neutral danger signal (NDS) anytime a wrestler exposes their shoulders to the mat at any angle less than 90 degrees (neutral danger zone). The danger zone utilizes near fall criteria outlined in Rule 4.5.1, but replaces 45 degrees with any angle less than 90 degrees. The NDS announcement shall occur anytime a wrestler is voluntarily or involuntarily in the neutral danger zone, beyond reaction time, and will continue until the wrestler is out of the danger zone or a takedown is awarded. 

In the United States, 4.3% of the male population from 20-29 years old weighs under 130.  There are 23.25 million men in the U.S. in that age range.  That's about a million people 130 and under. Interpolating to 1.94% at 125, I think your son's off by about 450,000 potential wrestlers.
Anyway, I presently have a very good senior whose major problem as a recruit has been that he walks around at 116.  Definitely not the first time I've had this problem, so I'm not much inclined to agree.

I like if you lose a challenge you receive a stall call warning 

I think limiting what can be challenged would be a good compromise. For example, Penalties should not be reviewable. 

Embrace,
Just for accuracy, I enrolled at MSU as a 17 yr. old in Sept. of 1971, turned 18 on Dec. 11, and won the NCAA on March 11, 1972 at the the age of 18.26 yrs., and apparently still the youngest ever. Thanks.  The following is courtesy of the late Jarius Hammond (NCAA Wrestling Historian).
Season  Weight       Name                                    Class                      DOB                              Ch.Date                      Age
 
1947   121                  Hauser, Dick                  Freshman                  3/29/1947
1947  136                   Lange, Lowell                Freshman                  8/17/1928                  3/29/1947                18.62
1947  175                   Scarpello, Joe               Freshman                  1/16/1923                  3/29/1947                 24.21
1947  165                    Nelson, Bill                    Freshman                  10/24/1926                3/29/1947                20.44
1947 UNL                    Hutton, Dick                  Freshman                  10/04/1923                3/29/1947                23.50
1972  126                    Milkovich, Pat               Freshman                  12/11/1953                3/11/1972                18.26
1973  134                    Rohn, Don                      Freshman                  1/13/1954                  3/10/1973                 19.17
1979  134                    Burley, Darryl                 Freshman                  2/18/1960                  3/10/1979                 19.07
1980  167                    Reiss, Matt                     Freshman                  4/16/1960                  3/15/1980                 19.93
1980  177                    Banach, Ed                     Freshman                  2/06/1960                  3/15/1980                  20.12
1990  158                    Smith, Pat                       Freshman                  9/21/1970                  3/24/1990                 19.52
1993  142                    McIlravy,Lincoln             Freshman                  7/07/1974                  3/20/1993                 18.72
1993  158                    Mollica, Markus             Freshman                  1/01/1973                  3/20/1993                  20.23
1994  167                    Branch, Mark                  Freshman                  7/08/1974                  3/19/1994                  19.71
1999  184                    Sanderson, Cael            Freshman                  6/20/1979                  3/20/1999                  19.76
2002  174                    Jones, Greg                    Freshman                  8/10/1982                  3/23/2002                  19.63
2003  184                    Rosholt, Jake                 Freshman                  9/02/1982                  3/22/2003                   20.56
2003  141                    Ware, Teyon                    Freshman                  8/13/1983                  3/22/2003                  19.62
2006  149                   Schlatter,Dustin               Freshman                  5/15/1986                  3/18/2006                  19.85
2010  141                   Dake, Kyle                        Freshman                  2/25/1991                  3/20/2010                   19.08
2010  125                   McDonough,Matt           Freshman                  5/12/1990                  3/20/2010                   19.87
2012  125                   Stieber, Logan                Freshman                  1/24/1991                  3/17/2012                    21.16                  
2014  197                  Cox, J’den                         Freshman                  3/03/1995                  3/22/2014                   19.06

The coaches did not throw a brick. The referees looked at the situation on their own. Also, there was about 2 seconds on the clock when the situation took place.

What everyone is failing to understand in this situation is...the rules. The ref had to allow for reaction time in this situation because it is NOT a hand touch takedown situation since the action was already on the mat. The ref was too quick throwing up the two and right away went to his assistant to discuss the call. They both agreed that control was NOT established beyond reaction and, correctly, changed the call. It's not the most popular call of the tournament, but it was indeed the correct call.
I personally know this official and he wants nothing more than to get every call right. He works his butt off to be one of the best and he is one of the best. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't get a finals match.

This is 100% correct per the rule. The hand has to cross the mid-line of the back before the escape can be awarded.

Officials do not award an escape until the top wrestler's hand passes the midpoint of the bottom wrestler's back. By that standard, Gable did not earn an escape prior to Cassar earning over 1 minute of riding time.

What everyone is failing to understand in this situation is...the rules. The ref had to allow for reaction time in this situation because it is NOT a hand touch takedown situation since the action was already on the mat. The ref was too quick throwing up the two and right away went to his assistant to discuss the call. They both agreed that control was NOT established beyond reaction and, correctly, changed the call. It's not the most popular call of the tournament, but it was indeed the correct call.
I personally know this official and he wants nothing more than to get every call right. He works his butt off to be one of the best and he is one of the best. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't get a finals match.

I have to agree. Both refs are VERY skilled, and know the rulebook inside and out. They conducted an obviously thorough video review, from an angle that was definitely superior to what we saw. This was not a call they made lightly — something on that video made it clear to them that the correct call was no takedown.

Match Notes:
1. Referees did not decide this match
2. Reviews took so long because the system wasn't working properly - not because the refs were inept or indecisive
3. The wrestling was pretty good, but pretty conservative by both guys
4. The right calls were made on the locked hands situations
5. The hands to face call was a no brainer - you can't NOT make that call
6. Ugly match, but the refs did a pretty darn good job of managing a tough situation with (literally) things flying at them from all directions

That's a line-up that can make a lot of noise.  So many tough programs.  I don't know if there are more or less than in previous cycles, but there are a lot of really tough teams in the top 10 at DI's.  Just a few decades ago if you had 6 AA's, you were winning the tournament.  That's when we had a few hundred more teams...in NAIA alone.  In some ways, it was like a 4A program against a 5A program with equal athletes and coaches.  When you began the college wrestling season with 400 more per weight class, in all divisions, the top of the top was probably a bigger piece of the athletic pie than what we have now.  Now, however, we put the best athletes on the mat we have ever put out.  The rules are the best they've ever been in my opinion.  I'm beginning to lose the argument with myself about which era is the best.