More Damning Evidence Against SEC Crew

Check this image of Florida's Tim Tebow being down at the Arkansas' 19-yard line and a yard short of a first down in the closing minute of Saturday's game in Gainesville. When the Southeastern Conference officiating crew marked the ball, the Gators were given a first down!

This is at least the fourth officiating error — all which went against Arkansas — in the final eight minutes of the game, won by Florida, 23-20.

The series of calls were so egregious that even Terrell Owens posted this comment on his Twitter feed while watching the telecast:

"Refs r str8 CHEATING n this florida/arkansas game!! A phantom P.I. call on #26, personal foul on #96 & no OPI call on UF's #11!"

This officiating crew was the same group that made a controversial call on Georgia's A.J. Green for excessive celebration in an Oct. 3 game against Louisiana State. That call helped the Tigers, trailing 13-12, score a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute of their 20-13 victory.

Connect the dots. That win set up the Oct. 10 game between unbeatens Florida and LSU.

There's a lot riding on Florida and Alabama advancing to the SEC title game with unbeaten records. A competitive SEC title game could set up a second matchup between the Gators and Crimson Tide in the BCS title game and that would mean a pocketful of cash for the SEC.

The league's hype machine is already banging the drum for a second Florida-Alabama matchup, but the reality is that the SEC is clearly down this year.

Back to last Saturday. SEC officials, faced with the obvious, have acknowledged that one of the calls in the Arkansas-Florida game was incorrect, and Razorback coach Bobby Petrino expressed his displeasure during his TV show Sunday night.

"It's unfortunate that the fourth quarter there's probably three plays that the officials made the difference in the game,'' he said.

View those three plays by clicking here.

Comments

[Bobby Fenton]

This has been covered. The CBS line was off by a yard. The line to make was the 19. Even at the 19, you can argue that he got a good spot because it looks like he's a foot or two short, but the 19 was the line. The crew measured, and he did make the 19 according to their spot. But the orange line there was not the mark to make. It should also be noted that Petrino did not protest or call for a challenge.

[Mike6]

you are correct in stating that the excessive celebration call against UGA was uncalled for, but you must realize that it was in fact the poor kick off coverage and poor tackling that allowed LSU to score the touchdown. it took LSU exactly 23 seconds to score. after the touchdown, there were 46 seconds left on the clock, exactly double the time that was taken by the tigers and LSU was also called for (albeit a makeup penalty) for the excessive celebration. every advantage that LSU gained by the false call was given back to UGA. this myth that UGA lost the game due to that call is complete BS. kickoff coverage (trindon holiday got 40+ yards) and poor tackling (charles scott broke at least 2 tackles on the scoring run) were what lost UGA the game.

[nola dawg]

Regarding the poor kickoff coverage, that's not as clear cut a point as you'd like to think. First, when only up by a point with less than 2 minutes left, the goal is to keep the opponent as far away from field goal range as possible. So we can't kick within our coverage range, a fact of the game discussed often when punters "outkick" the coverage with a huge punt. The same theory applies - the ball was kicked far enough that the coverage did not have the time to get down the field, conferring an advantage to the receiving team they otherwise would not have had (that kick likely would have been at least in the endzone).

Yes it took LSU 23 seconds to score, but to assume the situation would have been equal (even if the above weren't true, and they were merely 15 yards further back) is ridiculous. Field position changes how your defense plays. UGA was playing almost with a goal line mentality, because allowing slow progression to the 2 yard line is probably worse than a quick touchdown.

Finally, again, just because the penalty is the same does not mean UGA got "every advantage" LSU did. LSU got the ball with over a minute and 2 timeouts. UGA had a a half a minute and 1, without even taking into account the momentum swing caused by a crappy penalty call.

I'm not saying LSU doesn't score, but I am saying the refs made it vastly easier for them.

[Norm Schroud]

You are just WAY too far over-the-top on this, even "twit-quoting" one of the BIGGEST A-Holes on the NFL planet, Terrell Owens?....WOW! You really are paranoid, man. Get over it,...You're trying to make your name based on some SEC global conspiracy? You sound like a little kid yelling at hi Mommy!...The Yellow line on the TV was OFF, dude,..Christ, you don't even research sh.t or (apparently) watch the games. If you're gonna call sh.t out like this, you ought to at least be factual..Of course being factual would run head-on into your little SEC conspiracy theory,..then you'd have nothing to cry about but your hate for everything SEC! Get over it, there are bad calls in every game, the Gators have certainly had their share! BUT OOOOOHHHH< there's a CONSPIRACY!...LINK THE DOTS MAN, ..LINK 'EM!!!!! you're a riot!

[T-Bone]

The SEC can try to hype a rematch all they want, but it won't happen.

[Norm Schroud]

Yeah, the WHOLE SEC nut, rides on this one re-match "hope". Good GAWD man! I'm sure there's a room with "THEM SEC CONSPIRATORS" in it, and they are all sitting on the edge of their seats sweating out (praying for) this match-up. What a joke!
The big11 and Pac10 don't have conference Titles games...know why?...CONSPIRACY!!!!CONSPIRACY!!!!!!..yeah, they don't want to ruin the chances of their top team...run with that!..for a little while...CONNECT THE DOTS!...GO ON,..CONNECT THEM!!!!!paranoia is so much fun!
Those game oficials probably got big bonus checks. They'd have to, because if there was an SEC directive, they have to be paid BIG money to keep quiet. right?....HAHAHAHA! c'mon, quote up another twit from TO...that'll be good!

[Norm Schroud]

Anymore radically fact-altering reporting, and you may need to change the name of this site to "Whizzing in the wind" or "Whizzing on the facts...what's "odd" about that?"...

Hey, I think you were followed home from the 7/11 yesterday....yeah, Them SEC "guys" are on to you man!....Better use the "safe house" for a few days, 'til this blows over!...Buy and use ONLY a disposable cell phone, and use the "Trap9" security protocol here forward...I'm out!

[Norm Schroud]

"WIZz OF ODDS!...a College Football site for whiners!"

[Hans Gruber]

Wiz,

This was a surprising lapse in judgement posting this without checking facts. The first time I saw the picture the thought occurred to me.."Hmm...maybe the yellow line is off...the announcers are always warning about that.". And I'm not a journalist.

I would expect better from you since you *are* a journalist. This is something an ordinary numbskull blogger would post. But I guess you are like most other journalists these days. Who has time for fact checking? It's more fun to print provocative material!

The days of integrity in journalism died with Walter Cronkhite. May he rest in peace.

[Aaron Schnier]

I seriously doubt that it had any outcome on the game, but despite what the first post says the CBS line was not off by a yard. Check out the play by play:

1st and 10 at ARK 28 Tim Tebow rush for 1 yard to the Ark 27.
2nd and 9 at ARK 27 Tim Tebow rush for 9 yards to the Ark 18 for a 1ST down.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=292900057&period=4

Like I say I don't think it made a difference, but the extent to which Gator fans will make clearly false statements or excuses to support their team than just admit that they got a LOT of help to win a HOME game against a team it was favored by 25 against is staggering.

[Stan]

If you look at the original line of scrimmage for that series, you'll see the orange line was way off. CBS did not place their graphics in the right location. Funny how nobody is asking them why they made such an error.

[Jak Spirts]

SEC conspiracy! That's laughable. THe conference isn't in dire straits, and they aren't hedged against any case scenario no matter what you might think here. The conference is #1 in the land, and some haters will go to great lengths to discount them. Apparently "some" will even create issues where they didn't exist before. Some crack reporting there, Whizz! Hope your "offered" odds have more substance to them than you field reporting does!
Your tone here reflects a BIG1(1)0 cry-baby. You a Bucknutt fan by any chance?....Big1(1)0 really hate that the SEC is talked about so much....as if 2 National Titles in the past 40 years gives them some special right, or something. TWO Titles in 40 years, and they still go off as self-righteous. laughable!...kinda like your crack reporting skillz, duuuude!

[Norm Schroud]

Hahahaha disregard that, I suck SEC c*cks.

[Norm Shroud]

Awful!...just awful!...this crew needs to be suspended for at LEAST a game. THink about how the Minnesota fans are feeling about this game so far!!!

All this happens in JUST the first quarter +!!!

Torrance all over Minn wr Green, and NO CALL!?!?!?!.....OSU ref’s are in a conspiracy to keep OSU alive in the Conference race!....Then a gift 15 yarder on the exchange punt?...WOW!..THIS IS REALLY REALLY PIZZ POOR OFFICIATING!!!

Two plays into the 2nd qtr, a HORRIBLE PI call against Minnesota on a NOTHING play. Dude was in good coverage, and even went OUT of his way to avoid using his hands!.....The Gophers are outplaying the BUCKS, but these gangster officials are helping OSU stay in this game…THERE should be suspensions out of this game…this is SICK!...obviously the officials have bets on this game and do NOT want to lose that $$$....4 calls against Minnesota, NONE on OSU?.....thankfully for MInn, Pryor still cant throw!...or run consistently. (he had one good scramble).

The Saine fumble?...man, there should be a Congressional investigation!!!!