Greg Sankey on SEC officiating

Tide Rev said:

Rocko, thanks for your post. That is the other side of officiating that people do not see. I officiated also back in the 80s. I did it one year and decided that I did not need the extra stress. I was already coaching 3 sports in HS. The extra money was not worth the threats, comments, and such. I did my best and never favored one team or player over another. When a coach threatened to kill me over a call, that did it for me. My problem with today’s officials is many are not in the proper position to make an accurate call especially in basketball. Just my 2 cents.

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I want to Thank you for giving it a shot. People like you make it possible for dudes like myself to see officiated games. I think fans need to be 'officiated' at times:BigA:

My problem with officials is they never have to answer for their mistakes. Coaches, players and owners have to stand in front of the media and face the music. Officials get to duck away and hide. Not to mention the rules in college and pros that fine coaches for speaking about officials to the media, that’s a joke.

Officials should have to face the music and answer for their mistakes just like everyone else in the sport. Coaches should be able to publicly raise concerns without getting fined. Yes, it would be tough and pretty useless most of the time since nothing can be changed.

At the very least, the head of officials for each conference should have to publicly defend the calls/no calls each week. If they are doing such a good job then defend your work, stop hiding behind the conference seal.

I’m not sure officiating getting worse is the total reason for everyone’s dissatisfaction. I think there are a few rule changes that have been made over the years (most to open up the game we once new) that have also had a cumulative effect of increasing the officials’ difficulty.
1. Instant replay.
2. Changes in offensive line blocking that now allows linemen to put their hands on and grab a defensive linemen’s jersey.
3. RPOs that allow linemen 3 yds (Ole Miss and Auburn....7 to 10 yds) downfield.
4. And I would also add the goal line requirement for breaking the plain/plane? rule.

To make officiating more black and white/right and wrong change rules 2-4 to:
2. Don’t allow offensive linemen to grab jerseys.
3.Incorporate the 1 yard downfield rule like the NFL.
4. It’s a touchdown if the ball is in the end zone when the whistle blows.

CrimsonNagus said:

My problem with officials is they never have to answer for their mistakes. Coaches, players and owners have to stand in front of the media and face the music. Officials get to duck away and hide. Not to mention the rules in college and pros that fine coaches for speaking about officials to the media, that’s a joke.

Officials should have to face the music and answer for their mistakes just like everyone else in the sport. Coaches should be able to publicly raise concerns without getting fined. Yes, it would be tough and pretty useless most of the time since nothing can be changed.

At the very least, the head of officials for each conference should have to publicly defend the calls/no calls each week. If they are doing such a good job then defend your work, stop hiding behind the conference seal.

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Not sure it happens, but officials are supposed to be reviewed and graded on their games. That's how they are "awarded" bowl games and advancement.

Jkl0802 said:

I’m not sure officiating getting worse is the total reason for everyone’s dissatisfaction. I think there are a few rule changes that have been made over the years (most to open up the game we once new) that have also had a cumulative effect of increasing the officials’ difficulty.
1. Instant replay.
2. Changes in offensive line blocking that now allows linemen to put their hands on and grab a defensive linemen’s jersey.
3. RPOs that allow linemen 3 yds (Ole Miss and Auburn....7 to 10 yds) downfield.
4. And I would also add the goal line requirement for breaking the plain/plane? rule.

To make officiating more black and white/right and wrong change rules 2-4 to:
2. Don’t allow offensive linemen to grab jerseys.
3.Incorporate the 1 yard downfield rule like the NFL.
4. It’s a touchdown if the ball is in the end zone when the whistle blows.

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Replay (to me at least) is the biggest cause of poor officiating. It gives the officials an out if they miss a call. Doesn't help with penalty calls / no calls, but it does on lots of other things. Instant replay and slow motion on TV doesn't help either. Dozens of camera angles and being able to freeze the action and zoom in can give access to tons of views that an official's eyes can't see in real time.

For me, though, if an official hustles and gets in the right position, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt.

Threatening violence to get your way? Sounds like terrorism to me.

Tug Tide said:

Wow

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Vols and their fans are losing it, and that's a good thing. :biggrin2:

The average fan's definition of bad calls are any calls that go against my team.

ReturnToGlory said:

The average fan's definition of bad calls are any calls that go against my team.

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I had to listen to it last night from Auburn relatives. I said “welcome to Alabama’s world (when it comes to holding). I said are “are you watching this game (Bama-Arky)? We’re getting held all over the place.”

”Yeah but ya’ll are killing them. It doesn’t impact the game. They (officials) can’t miss calls in games of national importance like ours today....”

You mean like an illegal pic play in the end zone in the final seconds of a national title game? Or a phantom false start in a game that takes a field goal off the board against your in state rival? Or teams that consistently get away with linemen downfield in the RPO game? Or a secondary that constantly holds on almost every passing down? Want me to go on?”

I finally said “Look Auburn didn’t lose to LSU because of penalties or lack of them being called in their favor. They lost because the have a true freshman QB and struggled in the passing game. Just like Alabama didn’t lose to Clemson on the illegal pic. They lost by not sustaining drives on offense in the second half.”

CajunCrimson said:

#4 I think is a horrible idea. It’s a TD or it isn’t. A whistle blow is subjective. A plane is. Not.

#2 DL are too good now. You will get QBs killed if you don’t let them at least hold inside the numbers

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I am sorry I wasn’t clear on #2. I wanted to convey that when the person with the ball is on the ground, and the pile up is cleared away after the play is whistled over and dead....wherever the ball is located is where it is marked down or a touchdown.

You are right about D-Linemen being too good..I think it would drive teams back to the run first offenses.

ReturnToGlory said:

Threatening violence to get your way? Sounds like terrorism to me.

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Terrorism usually rises when an unmovable, overwhelming force will not acquiesce to demands/wants/needs of a smaller group of people. I can kinda understand the allure for this very micro-level form of terrorism because the officials just keep on doing a crappy job and the SEC has done nothing but pen human interest schlock and damage control.

At a certain point it may take a rash of official head crackings to fix this problem if the SEC won't do it the sensible way. Won't be looking forward to it but it is coming at some point. It shouldn't even come to that but I fear it will.

When one of our receivers catches a ball with ,clearly, both feet inbounds and the ref standing right on top of the play and is called out of bounds no TD, there needs to be some serious reevaluation of the refs. There is no excuse for some of these bad calls,none.

ReturnToGlory said:

The average fan's definition of bad calls are any calls that go against my team.

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I would somewhat disagree with this statement. Most fans just want the refs to be consistent across the board and call the game impartially. Call the obvious penalty. If a ref sees a player go after another player then the initial aggressor needs equal or greater penalty to the one who retaliates.
When teams like Arky, NM St, etc, don't get holding called against them when playing against better programs (regardless of who that better program is) then the refs are simply letting it go and turning a blind eye.

https://twitter.com/abc/status/https://twitter.com/_Real24_/status/1188526937783840768?s=19