The painful theme here is not Lane Kiffin's irresistible urge to say anything at any time, though that certainly is a theme in his first 10-plus months as the University of Tennessee football coach.

The refrain remains this morning that Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive again started his work week issuing official statements about officials.

"Coach Kiffin has violated the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics," Slive said Monday. "SEC Bylaw 10.5.4 clearly states that coaches, players and support personnel shall refrain from all public criticism of officials."

Those are the rules, of course, and Kiffin and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who also was reprimanded by the league for bemoaning a questionable call in Saturday's loss to Florida, should follow them to the letter and the intent. The same goes for Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, who was called out by the SEC last week for criticizing the officials who made two questionable calls in the fourth quarter of the Razorbacks' loss to Florida.

Plus, it's rarely beneficial to bellyache to officials -- whether they are wearing striped shirts, neck ties, badges or what have you -- and it never is a good idea to grieve your complaints in public. There is too little reward for the risk.

That said, Kiffin held little back in the hours after the Vols' heartbreaking 12-10 loss at unbeaten Alabama, unleashing a pointed rant Sunday night about how the officiating influenced his play-calling and wondering whether Alabama's Terrence Cody should have been flagged for removing his helmet after blocking a potential game-winning field goal on the final play.

The league explained the no-call on Cody on the final play, quoting SEC spokesman Charles Bloom in a statement: "The foul for taking a helmet off is a live-ball foul treated as a dead-ball foul. That is, if it happens on a play where time does not expire, then the penalty is enforced on the following play. However, since the clock ran out on that play, then there is no next play so there is no penalty to mark off."

As for the lead-in, well, here's Lane on Sunday night: "You run another play and throw an interception or they throw another flag on us. I wasn't going to let the refs lose the game for us there. You know, a magical flag appear."

Yes, "magical" flags, but there was no mention of fairydust fair catches or unicorns on uniforms. There was, though, a pre-emptive smirk to Slive's reprimand that was all Kiffin.

"I'm sure we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing as Bobby got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on," the Volunteers coach said Sunday.

In one sentence of 23 words, Kiffin not so accidentally managed to jab his finger in the league's already black eye when it comes to the officials. Plus, he set the spin cycle on "out of control" in regard to conspiracy theorists who have noticed that all four spotlighted questionable calls have benefited LSU, Alabama and Florida -- the three SEC schools still in the running for BCS bids that would net the league tens of millions of dollars.

If you think that is vintage Kiffin, you may be right. If you think its genesis was from the emotions of losing a very winnable game, that's hard to debate. If you think those words were not the first thing on Slive's desk Monday morning, well, you're living under a rock.

"This is the second reprimand for Coach Kiffin in this calendar year," Slive said in the statement. "Coach Kiffin is on notice that any further violations of SEC policies will subject him to additional penalties including suspension."

I'm not sure since Dean Wormer put Delta House on double-secret probation that anyone has operated under a microscope akin to Slive's on Kiffin.

Whether it will change Kiffin's approach or tone down his rhetoric should not be Slive's biggest worry.

No, the current pressing issue for all is why should a conference that is second to none in college football -- with the best players and the best coaches and the best fans -- settle for officiating that is so second-rate.