SEC refs

2019 Iron Bowl.

Which call, the FG or the substitution at the end? The substitution at the end was just good coaching on AU to catch Bama off guard. I don't remember enough about the FG before the half.

And given my narrative is about Birmingham/SEC being rotten, Bama/AU isn't really the best example, but I'll give it to you on maybe the FG at half.

AU seems to always be on the good side of some really big head scratchers too.
 
Which call, the FG or the substitution at the end? The substitution at the end was just good coaching on AU to catch Bama off guard. I don't remember enough about the FG before the half.

And given my narrative is about Birmingham/SEC being rotten, Bama/AU isn't really the best example, but I'll give it to you on maybe the FG at half.

They changed the rules in the offseason so a situation like the FG can't be screwed up again. So yes, it only took Bama's 2nd most recent loss to find an example.
 
I think because the league office is in Alabama, and guys like Marc Curles (and many of the league's refs) live in Birmingham, there’s is pressure on them to call games certain ways. As someone else here put it- when you live around Bama fans, when you go to church with them, and school, and see them all day every day in the grocery store; when some are your friends, and some are your family- you build a bias and there is no way around it.

Get the offices TF out of Birmingham, change the leadership, and things improve for all of us.
Being Bama homer’s, they would be calling for the team from the west to lose.
 
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They changed the rules in the offseason so a situation like the FG can't be screwed up again. So yes, it only took Bama's 2nd most recent loss to find an example.

Against AU doesn't really change the Birmingham narrative. But ok.

They changed a rule in the offseason after something bad happened to Bama? lol.
 
Against AU doesn't really change the Birmingham narrative. But ok.

They changed a rule in the offseason after something bad happened to Bama? lol.

They did a rule change after the UT-UNC Music City Bowl fiasco. I'm sure that was for Bama's benefit, too.
 
They did a rule change after the UT-UNC Music City Bowl fiasco. I'm sure that was Bama's benefit, too.

Well here's hoping that forward progress turns into a reviewable play after last Saturday. We have a long list of this crap happening.
 
The real issue I have is the at the ruling on the field requires irrefutable/overwhelming evidence to overturn. When you look back at the spot call the ref in charge of the spot was exactly 20 yards behind the play and close to 20 yards across the field. He was a really long ways off. When we saw the reply the player appeared to have the ball in his left hand near his side which touched down right around the 40. I think if the offical goes to replay with no preconceived idea of where to place the ball he chooses the 40. But he is only looking to make a change if there “irrefutable evidence” he needs to do change it.
 
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They changed the rules in the offseason so a situation like the FG can't be screwed up again. So yes, it only took Bama's 2nd most recent loss to find an example.
Just curious and a serious question, how many people do you know who work in the SEC office in Birmingham?
 
Laugh but I think Memphis makes decent sense. It will be centrally located when Texas and Oklahoma are added. It’s not what I would call a partisan city. And those running the SEC deserve to live in Memphis.
Why not Knoxville? The Sunsphere always needs tenants. Sankey could place his Golden throne on the top floor with windows all around, all Palaptine like. Plus he could watch Neyland Stadium directly and asses penalties on the spot as they happen 🙃
 
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I don't think it is so much protection of certain teams as it is the protection of teams that have a shot at the playoffs. It could be any team as long as they have a ear path to the SEC championship.
 
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They actually do work there? I thought there was just a receptionist to take Nick's calls and add an action item on the Commissioner's calendar
I worked in Downtown Birmingham for several years and actually drove past the SEC Offices every single day. Usually looked abandoned but with a sense of lurking EVIL
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jps2194,You're right about those refs not being homers.That's because they are bribe takers and followers of the home office to help the top three or four teams out to get more notariaty(spelling)for the conference.The refs make low salary ,but,great "tips".
 
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It’s amazing the NCAA doesn’t hire the refs for games across the country. We now find out the line judge for the Miss game played football for Alabama. Most likely the time in the 90’s when Tennessee dominated Alabama. Kiffin was in his ear all night long and this guy was manipulated. The SEC is corrupt and we take the short end of the stick every time. The refs should be from other parts of the country Hired by the NCAA. Don’t tell me it’s because of expense. The leagues across the country are loaded.
It’s like everything else, the good ol boy network is probably in play. I’m sure there are an abundance of good, knowledgeable referees all across the country that can’t get to the next level, because it’s all about who you know.
GBO!!
 
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Probably never, but my point is I don't believe they are making bad calls because they are a homer. I think they are becoming too reliant on instant reply to bail them out. Then the replay isn't conclusive. I don't know what the problem is - but I'm confident it's not because they have an allegiance to a school or an extreme dislike for a school.

I wouldn't call them "homers," but every human being has internal biases. Everyone...for many different things.

Marc Curles- lives in Birmingham; he presumably has colleagues, friends, acquaintances who are Bama fans
Brent Sowell (umpire on Curles' crew)- former DL at Alabama
Ryan Hagan- Samford grad who went to Hoover High School; has a family member who went to UAB who is higher up in the SEC office for officiating; Hagan was the line judge who stopped our wildcat play on the goal line when Bama was confused on defense; I believe he is now on Lee Hedrick's crew, and Hedrick is from Sevierville and can't do our games.
Rob Skelton- went to Jacksonville State in Alabama; father was a QB at Alabama; allowed to call Bama games; look him up and read a Miss. State article on him
Eduardo Balbis (on Curles' crew) - Florida alum
Steve Shaw- former head of football officials who is a Bama grad

Anthony Jordan in basketball- lived in Louisiana and was an LSU fan who did our game a few years ago
Robert Bell- at one time, was the head of basketball officials and lived in Lexington; the conference didn't even pretend to have an issue when Bell and Shaw had their positions at the same time

Some may say that it is difficult to totally eliminate job opportunities to people who went to SEC schools or live in the south, but it really isn't. In the least, they can break it down to very few. This is a billion dollar business with a lot at stake, and there are competent officials who have very little attachment to the south or to certain schools. It's just a bad look, and the conference doesn't seem to care. The reason is because the fat cows continue to roll right along.

But even taking that out, Marc Curles (and his crew) have a long, vast history of making bad calls, to the point that Curles was publicly suspended for at least 2 weeks. Regardless of where he lives, how does the conference keep trotting him out there? He obviously can't officiate high level football. But, again, the conference doesn't care.
 
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When was the last time an SEC official was fired for bad calls?

REALLY good question. If it's rare or never, then that says the league is not doing a great job or even evaluating the people as on the field officials at all. I worked for a major corporation once where in the piece of the company I worked required every manager at every level rank their people #1 down to the last of their direct reports. Then managers would meet at the Director level and rank all their people combined from who was #1 down to the last. It was a dog fight between managers as you could imagine, but people had to come to the table with facts and data about their people to get them correctly ranked. If done correctly the number 1 person often changed and the person on the bottom often changed. What that did was gave the Directors at any point in time if the budget or other factors within the company required an immediate layoff the Director had a list and if his boss said you have to reduce by 10 heads, he knew who they were right then and there to give to HR to begin that process.

Here's the takeaway regarding SEC officials. At any point in time there is a number of SEC officials performing in the bottom 5 or 10 percent of them all. They need to know that and frankly for the purposes of transparency the scoring criteria and their scores of each one need to be available to the general public and an official that is consistently at the bottom needs to be let go at some point. How would they let someone be at the bottom 5 percent of all officials and stay on for years? First they have to start evaluating and scoring officials and making it transparent. That's also another quick way to spot an official on the take, through scored performance. Then constantly implementing quality criteria so that a minimum standard of performance is met and if not met bringing in new people who will meet it. I suspect you have a good ol boys network of officiating at the SEC HQ and it showed at the Ole Miss UT game.
 
Perhaps, but not as nearly as much as you guys hate Alabama. It’s not close.

Look at it this way…if Tennessee had won seven national championships since a coach from a rival school turned you guys in to the NCAA, and UT had a current 14-game win streak against that same school, how much do you think UT’s fan base would care about what happened nearly two decades ago?
That’s not true at all.
Bama fans hate Tennessee as much as they hate anyone and will be happy to tell you about it.
 
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