Arkansas-Florida Game Officials Suspended

Officials from the Arkansas-Florida game have been suspended by the SEC. The SEC suspended the officials after they felt that the officiating crew had made mistakes during the Arkansas-Florida game. For anyone that watched the game on television, this could seem like an obvious outcome for a series of blown calls that seemed to favor the University of Florida each step of the way. It's a bit surprising that the SEC went this far with their punishment, but it is a very good sign that the conference wants to clean up what has been taking place on the field recently when it comes to league officials.

One of the plays during the Arkansas-Florida game that put the suspension over the top was during a fourth quarter drive by the Florida Gators. Arkansas defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard was called for a personal foul, and that not only gave the Florida Gators extra yardage, but an automatic first down on the play. After reviewing the tapes of the game, the SEC has confirmed that there is no video evidence to support the call on the field, and that combined with other instances in the game has led to the suspension of these officials. This is the same group that was also officiating the LSU-Georgia game that was embroiled in controversy.

It's a shame when officiating crews have control of the outcome in the palm of their hands, and make mistakes that could cost one team the chance at winning a game. It's very easy to make a call that could change the course of a game, and by calling a penalty that wasn't warranted, it could have possibly given Florida that extra boost they needed to beat Arkansas by a score of 23-20. One ESPN analyst even stated that the officials stole a win from Georgia when they were playing against LSU. Now the SEC is stepping in to say that this behavior is unacceptable, and it's good to see that a conference is finally taking stuff like this seriously.

The SEC crew will be suspended in its entirety for the week of October 31st, and will not be assigned to officiate as a crew again until November 14th. that gives them a bit of time to get their acts together and it also sends a message to all of the other SEC officials that they are going to need to call clean games for the rest of the season. Hopefully there aren't any more blown calls in the SEC this season, because it is coming down to bowl selection time, and the difference between a win and a lose can be in the millions of dollars a school can now lose out on.

Source: SEC Suspension Comes Through