The South Eastern Conference Suspended Officiating Crew

The South Eastern Conference suspended the officiating crew of the Georgia-LSU and the Arkansas-Florida football games. The same crew worked both games and made blatant bad calls that may have affected the outcome of both games. These bads calls were not supported by video evidence.

I have chosen to stay out of this argument as my team was a part of it. The officiating in the Georgia-LSU game was hideous. Someone was robbed and someone escaped.

The following week was as ugly from an officiating standpoint, but it certainly didn't alter the outcome. Tennessee was better prepared, hungrier and far better coached than were the Dawgs. I love my Dawgs anyway, but that was one ugly whoopin'.

Alabama was the recipient of some mighty favorable calls in the contest with South Carolina. No one needed prior knowledge as to who was the home team, as some of the calls made in that game left little doubt who the refs favored. In the end though, it wasn't the bad calls so much as it was the powerful 4th quarter running of Alabama's Mark Ingram. Ingram finished the day with 246 rushing yards. Still though, one has to consider favorable as well as momentum stealing calls, and then the issue with the Tide's field goals. It seems the refs overlooked Leigh Tiffin marking the field with white tape for placement of the ball on his field goal attempts. Those 5 yard penalties were never called.

"I heard that was not supposed to happen, you're not supposed to use anything like that," Spurrier said. "I guess Alabama didn't know it was against the rules. They said you're not supposed to use anything to spot the ball there. I don't know if they knew it was illegal or legal but they dang sure did it last week. It looked funny watching the tape. Maybe they thought it was permissible. Maybe the kicker did it on his own. I don't know."

"We certainly don't want our players to do anything that's illegal," Saban said. "It is a 5-yard penalty if you do anything to enhance the spot. We've done some research on it, and over half the teams in the league do something with it. They put a piece of grass there or a piece of mud wherever it is, so the kicker knows where the ball will be spotted. We even saw verification where last year South Carolina's kicker did it."

As much as I love to hate Steve Spurrier (it is mutual you know), I have to say that I also admire Steve Spurrier. I admire Steve personally in that he is a fierce competitor with a great desire to win, and that Steve is a straight shooter. More often than not, I don't agree with Steve's take on things, yet I appreciate him for sharing his point of view on whatever it is that might need to be said.

Saban is a different story. He has the ability to be a great coach, but I do not respect the man. Rather than admit that an error was made and move on to correct it, he reacted in a sly way, much like a smile that does not touch the eyes.

Arkansas-Florida. Arkansas was robbed and Florida escaped. I admired Urban Meyer for making a stand when he saw the bad calls in the Georgia-LSU game, but I am not surprised that he did not express the same remorse for the calls that went against Arkansas by the same officiating crew.

Those striped shirts need to sit far longer than the suspension that they received. Blatant favoritism cannot be tolerated at this level of play. The ineptness of this officiating crew rivals the antics of the crew involved in the infamous OU-Oregon game of a few years ago. Enough already, lighten up and let the players enjoy the enthusiasm that sets college athletics apart from professional sports.