Begin with the premise that officials in the Southeastern Conference are dedicated men who love the game of football and turn in an honest day’s work for an honest dollar each and every time they enter one of the grand stadiums around the league.
That doesn’t mean for a second that they’re always right or that they don’t have prejudices. They’re human, after all. It also doesn’t mean that they’re not aware, even if subconsciously, of which games are the big ones — the ones that can have a major impact on rankings for the coveted BCS championship.
And, they’re bound to be aware of the financial implications of what it means to participate in the biggest title series in college sports. OK, there’s the basketball Final Four, but when it comes to money, the mythical title game in football is still bigger.
Turn the clock back to Saturday.
No. 1 Florida, the now top-ranked BCS team, is fighting for its spot at the top of conference standings and the nation’s rankings against a pesky unranked Arkansas team that surprisingly had played the Gators off their feet. The score is 20-20 and the clock is ticking down to the final minute following a missed field-goal attempt that would have put the Razorbacks up by 3.
Florida gets to the Arkansas 40 and quarterback Tim Tebow launches one toward the end zone. The Razorbacks’ Andru Stewart is in position to make the interception when Florida’s Riley Cooper, the intended receiver, runs through the defender just before the ball arrives. No call.
A year ago, London Crawford made a reception against Ole Miss late in the game that would have put the Razorbacks in field goal range or in position for a winning touchdown. Crawford and the defender collided, partially the result of a minor push off by Crawford. Offensive pass interference was the call; Ole Miss went on to win, 23-21.
Yes, pass interference falls into the category of “judgment call,” but it seems judgments aren’t always consistent in the SEC. If Crawford’s push-away was offensive interference, so was Cooper’s run-through.
This isn’t whining; it’s simply a call for Mike Slive, SEC commissioner, and the supervisor of SEC officials to hold game officials more accountable. Do an after-the-fact full review of every call and weed out those officials who get it wrong too often. The SEC agreed that a personal foul call against an Arkansas defensive lineman in the same game was incorrect. It didn’t comment on judgment calls, though.
Videos of the judgment calls already mentioned (and many others) are all over the Internet site, YouTube, which makes us wonder whether other conferences will begin accusing the SEC of protecting its top teams in an effort to get two representatives in the BCS postseason games each season.
So, Mr. Commissioner and Mr. Supervisor, two things: Make officials aware that their calls aren’t always consistent and hold them accountable when they’re not. That means a grading system should be implemented as a first step to accountability. And, No. 2, make sure officials are aware going into big games that the top-ranked teams need no special protection, subconsciously or otherwise.
The SEC is the top football league in the country. If other conferences believe officials are trying to protect the SEC’s top teams, whispers could tarnish that status. The time to do something is before those kinds of allegations are made by, say the Big 12, the Big 10, or the Pac 10.
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Editor’s Note: The Southeastern Conference on Wednesday suspended the officiating crew that called the Arkansas-Florida game. The crew won’t call another game until Nov. 14. The Arkansas-Florida crew was the same one that called an excessive celebration penalty on Georgia at a critical time in its game with LSU earlier in the month. That call and the one against Arkansas’ Malcolm Sheppard, the Arkansas defensive lineman, for a personal foul were both determined by the league office to have been incorrect.
