... that they respect some coaches and teams over another and there is implicit bias that impacts calls. And I believe many crews are "afraid" of some coaches over another.
Lane has been very critical of officials in the past, and I think collectively they're not going to give him "benefit of the doubt" calls. The same was true with Mike Leach, who was very critical as well. I just don't see many respecting him with all of the fake injury stuff, coupled with his personality and previous criticism. Officials seem to be very pragmatic people, and "respect for the game" types. Anyone that kind of disrupts the status quo is probably not going to get judgment calls.
Like, when Vandergriff threw that ball to Brown on the sideline on 4th down, maybe it was just lineup, but I could believe it was purposely thrown towards the Kentucky sideline to try and draw a penalty on us and away from our sideline, who would try to influence a call. IMO, given our previous holds, I don't think there was any question the officials weren't even looking at the possibility of an OPI pushoff by Brown. And they certainly weren't going to call it on the Kentucky sideline.
We have to execute better, and it's not the reason we lost the game. But, it's still wild to me that we have SEC officials, that have local ties, that ultimately affect and influence a billion dollar business. With zero accountability whatsoever.
Given some of the corruption we've seen in sports over the last couple decades, would SEC referees getting in a van postgame and laughing off some questionable calls really be all that tin foil hat?
Lane has been very critical of officials in the past, and I think collectively they're not going to give him "benefit of the doubt" calls. The same was true with Mike Leach, who was very critical as well. I just don't see many respecting him with all of the fake injury stuff, coupled with his personality and previous criticism. Officials seem to be very pragmatic people, and "respect for the game" types. Anyone that kind of disrupts the status quo is probably not going to get judgment calls.
Like, when Vandergriff threw that ball to Brown on the sideline on 4th down, maybe it was just lineup, but I could believe it was purposely thrown towards the Kentucky sideline to try and draw a penalty on us and away from our sideline, who would try to influence a call. IMO, given our previous holds, I don't think there was any question the officials weren't even looking at the possibility of an OPI pushoff by Brown. And they certainly weren't going to call it on the Kentucky sideline.
We have to execute better, and it's not the reason we lost the game. But, it's still wild to me that we have SEC officials, that have local ties, that ultimately affect and influence a billion dollar business. With zero accountability whatsoever.
Given some of the corruption we've seen in sports over the last couple decades, would SEC referees getting in a van postgame and laughing off some questionable calls really be all that tin foil hat?
