Now don't get me wrong. I am not going to blame the refs for this loss. If you think I am, then see me other thread. Bama is just too good.

But good God, the officiating was just incredibly lackluster again today, and it was last week for Bama vs Tennessee, and it has been all year whether it's been for us or for some other two teams playing in the SEC.

1) Speedy Noil should have gotten a Crown To The Helmet call when he was knocked back. They came back with he's not a defenseless player, but that is the wrong rule. Crown to the Helmet was the rule, and they didn't call it despite it being incredibly blatant.



2) Priest Willis Pass Interference Call - what a joke. Was playing the ball, arrived with the ball, he made a good defensive play. I concede that this is close and Priest may have been just a half step too early, but I still think he played the ball and played it correctly. It looks like he is grabbing him around the shoulder, but replay shows that his hand is actually free above his shoulder. I think this got called because his hand glances off of the helmet as he jumps up with the receiver.






3) We got a block in the back call, and then Bama had one that was far more blatant and somehow it's not called.




4) Armani Watts was taken down on an illegal cut block that was outside of the tackle box. (Edit: this is over-ruled after some research. an offensive player is allowed to cut block outside of the zone only if the block is to the front of the defensive player. That is what I have read anyway. However I have also read that an outside player cannot make a cut block on an inside player once the ball is outside of the zone. Ridley is clearly the outside WR to Watts safety position, so to be honest, on this call, I'm not sure, and I will assume the correct call was made.)

5) Keith Ford was taken down by horse collar when he was already out of bounds.


6) And don't even get me started with this:


Donovan Wilson's helmet-to-helmet was the correct call. Washington's Personal foul was the correct call. When we had a "block in the back" called against us, it was the correct call.

Just stupid how somehow the correct calls are made against us and yet Bama had very few critical calls called against them. I guess they are afraid of a Butt Chewing by Nick Saban, I don't know. They had blatant PI calls, at least 2 of them last week as well.

That is my soapbox. Credit to Bama. They are the best far and away and will win the NC.

But the refs have just been ridiculous. get it right.

They hold us every damn play and not one holding call. I am sick of it!!

Gotta beat more than Bama to beat Bama. They're on Texas' level of favorable officiating.

I wanted them to review their 1st TD. Looked like he may have fumbled going in out of bounds.

It's worse than playing the sips. More blatant. More obvious.

It appears Bama only commits 5 yard penalties.

Armani Watts went down on an illegal cut block on Hurts long TD.

"4. Once the ball has left the tackle box a player may not block below the waist toward his own end line."
From NCAA rule book on blocks below waist

Bama is a protected team.

The rules that are in place to protect players are the ones that should absolutely get called, like the face-mask shown on Garret, the cut block...

Don't forget the no-call horse collar out of bounds on Ford in the first half. Lucky he was ok.

Officiating was very biased and very unfortunate.

Did Wilson actually get called for 'defenseless player' hit because it sure as hell looked like shoulder to shoulder to me? However, how they didn't call the crown of the helmet directly to Soeedy's face mask is beyond me.

Today was sip level f'ing.

i know Sumlin sent a video in with Garret getting absolutely raped. We should not let this drop. Texas bring tons of revenue to the SEC - milliions of eyeballs and millions of dollars. Dont f us for a state with a fifth of the people.

On Reynolds touchdown catch, his jersey was stretched about 10 inches by bama CB while attempting to catch the ball...luckily he did because the flag was not thrown.


But in all seriousness, we lost this game in many other areas and lost key momentum on the Washington penalty.

Indignitas said:

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This is a priori knowledge. The SEC has a pretty solid record of protecting its MNC contenders' records when it comes to officiation.

The Big XII had a pretty solid record of protecting tu's record when it comes to officiation.

In the long run, the SEC's system is more equitable, but it is particularly damaging to teams that are on a steep ascent, as we have been since September.

While we definitely beat ourselves today, the officiation could've easily been the difference in this game. At 26-14, the (uncalled) block in the back on Bama's punt return was worth a good 30-40 yards, and arguably worth 7 points, and potentially a pivotal difference in morale for our side. But still...this loss is on us.

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I can understand them doing that even though it's wrong, but we were contenders just as much as them going into the game.