SEC football officials under microscope after high-profile mistakes

AP photo by John Amis / Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach talks to quarterback Will Rogers during the first half of the Bulldogs' game Saturday at Memphis. The Tigers won 31-29 after going ahead for good with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after returning a punt 94 yards for a touchdown, a controversial play that put SEC officials in an unwanted spotlight.
AP photo by John Amis / Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach talks to quarterback Will Rogers during the first half of the Bulldogs' game Saturday at Memphis. The Tigers won 31-29 after going ahead for good with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after returning a punt 94 yards for a touchdown, a controversial play that put SEC officials in an unwanted spotlight.

Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach was still being asked his thoughts Wednesday about the bizarre punt play in the fourth quarter of a loss to Memphis four days earlier, and two apparent mistakes - one of them acknowledged - by Southeastern Conference officials.

Leach still wasn't sure he wanted to pay to discuss it.

Regardless, the situation on the same Saturday as another significant error by SEC officials in Auburn's loss at Penn State has put the men and women in stripes exactly where they never like to be: the spotlight.

"There is not a lot I can do differently. I clearly have some thoughts," acknowledged Leach, whose Bulldogs play LSU this weekend. "I just have to figure out if I'm interested in making an investment in airing those thoughts. There is sort of a price to play this particular game. I kind of reserve the right to do that. It is still an option on the table."

There might be no more difficult job in college football than officiating, particularly as teams have embraced wide-open offenses, rapid substitutions, faster tempos and more exotic looks. And the reality is the two plays that shone a nasty spotlight on the SEC on Saturday were but two of hundreds its officials were forced to watch last weekend.

Still, they also were mistakes egregious enough - particularly with instant replay available - that many coaches, players and fans are no doubt left wondering whether they can count on SEC officials to handle their games.

The more noteworthy mistakes, if only because they occurred on a play that directly affected the outcome, came in Mississippi State's game.

It happened with Memphis leading 21-17 and 5:58 left in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs punted and two of their players made contact with the ball in an attempt to down it, though neither ever actually possessed it, and the back judge waved his arms over his head to signal the play was dead. But with no whistle blowing, the Tigers' Calvin Austin III alertly grabbed the ball and took off, running nearly the length of the field for a clinching touchdown as the hosts won 31-29.

The league later released a statement saying Austin was allowed to pick the ball up because "the kicked ball remained live by rule, since it was not possessed by a player," though more than a few people would disagree with the interpretation. One place where there was no gray area: The play should have been reversed because of the official's signal.

"The subsequent review would have placed the ball at the spot where the signal was made," the SEC said.

Leach said he was told Saturday that all plays are reviewed and that the punt play had already been confirmed. Evidently, the officials doing the review also missed the fact that Memphis had two players on the field wearing the No. 4, which is also a violation and should have resulted in a 5-yard penalty.

"It is extremely disappointing when student-athletes are not fully in control of a game's outcome," Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen said, "especially when taking into consideration the time, effort and resources put into an officiating system created to eliminate human error on the field whenever possible."

photo Daily Memphia photo by Patrick Lantrip via AP / Calvin Austin III returns a punt for Memphis during Saturday's home game against Mississippi State. Austin's 94-yard return for a touchdown put the Tigers ahead for good with less than six minutes to play, and they went on to win 31-29.

It didn't eliminate human error as Auburn visited Penn State, either. Early in the second quarter, game officials simply forgot an entire down - all of them - and the host Nittany Lions were forced to punt on third down.

Not surprisingly, coach James Franklin was still baffled after the game. Good thing Penn State won, or he might have been downright irate.

"I talked to all of them. They all agreed," Franklin said. "I kept bringing them over and saying, 'It's not accurate.' I don't know what else I can tell you, but they all concurred with the officials. They got the headset, they talked to each other and they all agreed. They ran it by replay, they agreed as well. I don't know what else I can do or what else I can say."

The SEC had something to say in a release: "The error was discovered during the media timeout that followed the punt, and by rule it could not be corrected at that time."

Leach, although often outspoken, has taken a diplomatic approach so far. He hopes officials get things right next time, but he doesn't want his players dwelling on the situation and said the Bulldogs "had ample opportunities to do things differently" in order to beat Memphis.

"The biggest thing is we need to worry about ourselves and what we think is most important," Leach said, adding that when it comes to officiating, "I handle that and our administration and the league - they handle that, and we focus on playing one play at a time. We've got to get better at that. That's the biggest thing."

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