Officially, Tom Williams not a happy camper

In his 2 1/2 seasons at Yale's head coach, Tom Williams has gained a reputation for not sugar coating things and speaking his mind. So it should not have come as a surprise when he didn't pull any punches when he was asked about the 10 penalties Yale was called for in Saturday's loss at Pennsylvania and if it was a concern heading forward.

Williams categorized the officiating in the game as "poor." He was especially perturbed at - among other things - what he perceived to be three uncalled helmet to helmet hits by Penn defenders on Yale quarterback Patrick Witt. The flagging of helmet to helmet hits has been a particular point of contention since the Ivy League suspended Yale sophomore safety Nick Okano for the Lafayette game for a hit he made in the fourth quarter of the Dartmouth game.

Here is what else he had to say about the officiating in the Penn game at Yale's weekly media gathering with Williams and a couple of his players (senior defensive tackle Jake Stoller and sophomore receiver Cam Sandquist were the players present on Tuesday).

"I am taking issue with it because every big game I have coached in since I have been here has been like that and it hasn't been very good. And I have video evidence of it. It is not great. My hands are up in the air right now because I am not exactly sure what can be done with it but I know there were some bad no-calls which are sometimes worse than the ones that are called. We have not been a very heavily penalized team since the first game of the season and we had 10 on Saturday which is unheard of for our football team. Most of them were questionable. I have a real issue with that. I don't know what is going on but I do know that it affected the outcome of the game. We have to do our part, don't get me wrong. We have to field the sky kick, we have to not fumble the kickoff return, we have to execute the 3rd and 1 and do all the things that we have to do to win the game but we don't need any help from the officials. We do enough on our own. Those are real concerns that I have. I think a lot of those calls are bogus to be quite honest with you, that is my answer to your question about penalties."
 
There will be those who will view Williams' words as sour grapes but the fact is that he has voiced his dissatisfaction with the officiating with me after wins and he is quick to give Penn credit for the victory. I believe he feels that his complaints about the officiating in the Ivy League have fallen on deaf ears so he is going public with his thoughts. I am sure his quotes will not be well received at Ivy League headquarters but I am also sure he will not back off his words even if discipline comes from the league.