The SEC Office Has Two Choices: Move Out of Birmingham Or Make Officials Full Time

[ShotgunDawg]

I just don't see it any other way.

The SEC office MUST move out of Birmingham to Nashville or Atlanta, which are much larger melting pots of SEC fans than Birmingham or the conference must employee full time officials.

Here are some points as to why:

- Somehow, someway the officiating arm of the SEC has become infiltrated with Bama connected people. I completely understand how this happened since Bama is the most passionate fan base in college football & over the years is just going to produce more people who's life goal is to be involved in SEC football. It's the same reason so many coaches come from Bama. However, it just sends a terrible message.

- When refs aren't full time, it means that many of them work in banks, law firms, etc in the Birmingham area & rely on that area & it's costumers for their lively hood. They go to church with Bama fans, Bama fans know where their house is, where their kids go to school, etc. It's only human nature for them to give Bama the benefit of the doubt. I'm not a big conspiracy guy, & I don't believe anything going on is malicious. I don't believe anyone is Birmingham is purposefully cheating towards Bama. However, that means there must be a come to Jesus moment in the SEC offices about why these types of things happen. The SEC basically puts itself in position for these types of things to happen.

- Lastly, the world has changed. With Facebook, the internet, Google, company websites, etc..... it's easier for the average fan to find personal information about an official than it ever has been in the history of the world. That puts officials in a terrible position of fearing being the guy that ruins Bama's season.

So what is the solution? In order to protect the integrity of the game & the officials themselves, the SEC needs to make officials full time employees in order to not make them rely on the local Birmingham population for their lively hood, and/or move the SEC & the officials to Nashville or Atlanta.

The conference that has the best stadiums, teams, fan bases, players, etc deserves better than this. These are some easy fixes than can drastically improve the pressure on officials to protect Bama.

[Jack Lambert]

Maybe the NCAA should do like the NFL and they hire the Refs and chose what games they go to. Make sure the Refs are sent out of the region of the country they live. To pay for it make every team or conference pay a fee to the NCAA.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Look, the entire game was over the second they didn't review the fumble and the phantom block in the back. I am not even bringing up the fact that on the fumbled punt, Bama had a guy so close he scratched Thomas' balls prior to the ball getting there. Thought you had to give the guy a yard or two to catch a fair catch. Just saying, he didn't touch him, but damn if he didn't literally put his head between thomas and the ball.

[ShotgunDawg]

Maybe the NCAA should do like the NFL and they hire the Refs and chose what games they go to. Make sure the Refs are sent out of the region of the country they live. To pay for it make every team or conference pay a fee to the NCAA.

College football would need a commissioner to do that. I'm all for it but getting a commish would need to happen first.

[ShotgunDawg]

Look, the entire game was over the second they didn't review the fumble and the phantom block in the back. I am not even bringing up the fact that on the fumbled punt, Bama had a guy so close he scratched Thomas' balls prior to the ball getting there. Thought you had to give the guy a yard or two to catch a fair catch. Just saying, he didn't touch him, but damn if he didn't literally put his head between thomas and the ball.

Yep. We gotta find solutions though. Everyone realizes there is a problem.

[Coursesuper]

Gun those are excellent thoughts but it’s just not going to happen at present. There is just to much money under the current system. Until there is a real playoff this bastardized version will continue to be used to funnel money from the advertising and networks to the upper echelon. As it stands we and the rest of US also rans are benefiting from the system. But only to a certain extent.

I feel that within the next twenty years there will be a split from the NCAA as far as football goes. What do we do then?

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Maybe the NCAA should do like the NFL and they hire the Refs and chose what games they go to. Make sure the Refs are sent out of the region of the country they live. To pay for it make every team or conference pay a fee to the NCAA.

Here's the problem with that: The NCAA SUCKS AT EVERYTHING!

Do any of us really think the NCAA will spend more $$$ training refs than the richest conference in the country? Does anyone feel that fan outrage would affect the governing body for 130 teams the same way outrage affect a commissioner over a 14 team conference? Is there even enough good refs to be evenly distributed over 130 teams and still improve what us SEC teams see on the field?

I don't want the NCAA to have any more power, they are utterly incompetent and blatant money whores. Refs are about the integrity of the game- if the NCAA cared about that they'd have given half the SEC the death penalty for recruiting violations. NCAA will take our extra fees, pocket half, not give a crap about how the other half is used, and laugh in our faces when the gameday experience sucks. "What's that MState? You don't like the block in the back call?!? You know that reminds me, you've been doing pretty good in recruiting recently and we might need to take a closer look at your methods... oh you're ok with the officials now? That's what I thought"

No, what I want is for the SEC to pay more for refs across the big 4 sports and hire the best refs from the other conferences. Make them full time, give them better pay, and Pro-level training. Fire ones who make bad calls. We have 14 teams, so our ref costs can be less than half of the pro leagues for the same level of competence. It will help us be seen as the more "professional" conference, thus attracting even better players and coaches. We'd get credit for being the first conference to take the quality of officiating seriously. We're the richest conference in the country, there's no reason we can't fix this problem on our own without the Big Gov't equivalent NCAA getting involved.

[ShotgunDawg]

Great point on Bo Bounds this morning.

If that game is 17-7 in the 4th quarter, Bama can't take Tua out. Does he get hurt? Do Sweat and Simmons destroy him?

The other playoff contenders should be ticked.

[Mudhole]

Espn has a lot of money riding on these games.

https://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?70960-The-cfp-is-a-sham

[Tbonewannabe]

Look, the entire game was over the second they didn't review the fumble and the phantom block in the back. I am not even bringing up the fact that on the fumbled punt, Bama had a guy so close he scratched Thomas' balls prior to the ball getting there. Thought you had to give the guy a yard or two to catch a fair catch. Just saying, he didn't touch him, but damn if he didn't literally put his head between thomas and the ball.

That was in the grey area. I thought it was close but he had enough room to catch the ball. I don't think anyone but Bama would get a call like that so I don't think it should have been called.

[starkvegasdawg]

Yep. We gotta find solutions though. Everyone realizes there is a problem.

Unless you have a genetic need to scream rowl tahd every 30 seconds. Then you have no issue with it at all. In fact, the refs are against you for not flagging a legal hit on your qb.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Yep. We gotta find solutions though. Everyone realizes there is a problem.

Yep, everyone went overboard when the calls started happening. Same damn song, same old verse over and over again. Now I said things in the moment that I wouldn't want repeated, and I know it was over the line, but shit man. It happens every year. The SEC shows direct bias on the teams they are protecting. They don't even hide it anymore. I remember the calls Florida got when Tebow was there. Now Saban...... I mean shit. Just call a clean game for 17s sake. Bama would have still won, but no one will convince me that the game would not have been 21-14 or maybe 21-13. The entire game was effected, just like last years Auburn game and the strip sack return.

We get those two calls and maybe Bama starts pressing. Maybe Tua has to think about the throw for .25 of a second longer and a unicorn holding call can be made. You never know.

I am serious as a heart attack, every student needs a sign at the game referencing those calls. The simple fact that calls have been reversed. Everything is reviewed in Birminham as the play happens. No reason that wasn't reviewed. Seems to only happen to the Non-Bama teams too. Just saying.

[Matty Dispatch]

It would be nice if college football as a whole hired full time officials that were not tied to one conference as a whole. All Power 5 should have this. They need to break off from group of 5 and just do things better. There are too many bad calls and wasted games for this not to happen.

[Tbonewannabe]

It would be nice if college football as a whole hired full time officials that were not tied to one conference as a whole. All Power 5 should have this. They need to break off from group of 5 and just do things better. There are too many bad calls and wasted games for this not to happen.

It is amazing how much less I bitch in a bowl game about refs when you are playing an ACC team with Big 12 officials.

[Cooterpoot]

Y’all are pissing and moaning to the wind. You think schools are going to leave the SEC if they don’t? Hell no. We’re the only people bitching.

[RocketDawg]

I just don't see it any other way.

The SEC office MUST move out of Birmingham to Nashville or Atlanta, which are much larger melting pots of SEC fans than Birmingham or the conference must employee full time officials.

Here are some points as to why:

- Somehow, someway the officiating arm of the SEC has become infiltrated with Bama connected people. I completely understand how this happened since Bama is the most passionate fan base in college football & over the years is just going to produce more people who's life goal is to be involved in SEC football. It's the same reason so many coaches come from Bama. However, it just sends a terrible message.

- When refs aren't full time, it means that many of them work in banks, law firms, etc in the Birmingham area & rely on that area & it's costumers for their lively hood. They go to church with Bama fans, Bama fans know where their house is, where their kids go to school, etc. It's only human nature for them to give Bama the benefit of the doubt. I'm not a big conspiracy guy, & I don't believe anything going on is malicious. I don't believe anyone is Birmingham is purposefully cheating towards Bama. However, that means there must be a come to Jesus moment in the SEC offices about why these types of things happen. The SEC basically puts itself in position for these types of things to happen.

- Lastly, the world has changed. With Facebook, the internet, Google, company websites, etc..... it's easier for the average fan to find personal information about an official than it ever has been in the history of the world. That puts officials in a terrible position of fearing being the guy that ruins Bama's season.

So what is the solution? In order to protect the integrity of the game & the officials themselves, the SEC needs to make officials full time employees in order to not make them rely on the local Birmingham population for their lively hood, and/or move the SEC & the officials to Nashville or Atlanta.

The conference that has the best stadiums, teams, fan bases, players, etc deserves better than this. These are some easy fixes than can drastically improve the pressure on officials to protect Bama.

You may be right, but is there any data that show that most of the SEC officials are from the B'ham area, or even Alabama? The B'ham area isn't all that big ... if most are from there, that would be egregious.

[ShotgunDawg]

You may be right, but is there any data that show that most of the SEC officials are from the B'ham area, or even Alabama? The B'ham area isn't all that big ... if most are from there, that would be egregious.

Good point.

If they are from other areas, move the SEC offices to a bigger city like Nashville or ATL that is a melting pot of the SEC & don't allow SEC officials to officiate games that involve teams from the state they live in .

[Coursesuper]

Good point.

If they are from other areas, move the SEC offices to a bigger city like Nashville or ATL that is a melting pot of the SEC & don't allow SEC officials to officiate games that involve teams from the state they live in .

That won't fix it. What y'all don't know is how much of a good old boy club officiating is in the first place. The only place anyone is accountable is the NFL. You make calls like those Sat your ass is gone. The in the SEC the problem is the system is completely broken, and these guys will defend each other all the way, the conference is already beginning the spin trotting pawl finrshart out there today backing up officiating in the conference by saying how well the are vetted the background checks and testing they go through and so on and so forth and did you know they have to fun a whole mile to be a SEC official.

BTW got sent a clip, not watching that.