Following Saturday’s loss to Clemson, Florida State football head coach Jimbo Fisher was frustrated in his post game press conference towards the officiating crew of the game, and held nothing back commenting on it. He used words such as cowardly, gutless, bad and garbage to describe the crew. A fine was expected to occur, and Brett McMurphy of ESPN is reporting that the extent of the charges will be $20,000.
Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher fined $20,000 & Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi fined $5,000 by ACC for criticizing officials
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) October 30, 2016
The most notable questionable call was a Freddie Stevenson chop block that negated a Dalvin Cook 50-yard rush late in the game that would have given FSU breathing room. Replays showed that the hit looked to be legal, and the referees then tacked on another 15 yard penalty following comments on the sideline.
The officiating will also effect next week’s game, as a key player from FSU’s secondary will be missing. Trey Marshall was ejected for targeting in the second half, and will miss the first half at NC State after officials went to the replay booth and stayed with their decision.
Fisher said in his postgame presser that he did not believe it was targeting, before mentioning that Clemson should have been called for targeting on a hit that knocked QB Deondre Francois out for a play. He also noted that the guy in the booth was “bad too.”