In 2012 the SEC experimented with a wireless communication system for its officials.  One goal was to allow officials to make calls quicker, without having to huddle for a discussion.  Another was to provide quicker access and information to a replay official in the pressbox.

Last season, two SEC crews used the system.  The league will continue to use the headsets in 2013 and coordinator of officials, Steve Shaw, says someday the SEC office wants to outfit all its crews with the wireless system.  The NCAA recently decided to allow other leagues to use wireless communications as well.  (The SEC had to ask for a waiver in order to conduct its experiment last season.)

Obviously, Shaw and company were pleased with the system:

“I think more conferences will go to it.  One area that it really helped — and it’s going to be an area we feel more and more pressure in — is uptempo offenses and substitutions.  This helps you manage the game because the umpire and ref can communicate.”

According to Shaw, use of the system cut game times by about three to four minutes.

Shaw also said that the SEC will experiment with adding an eighth on-field official during some spring games this year.

Get out your tin foil hats, everybody, the conspiracy theories are gonna start flying now.

The SEC officially announced today what we suspected it would announce — that Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial will not be suspended for his wicked takedown of Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray after the Bulldog tossed an interception in the SEC Championship Game:

“The Southeastern Conference has completed its review of video from the 2012 SEC Football Championship Game.  Several plays involving both teams were reviewed.  After review, all subsequent action will be handled internally by the two institutions and the conference office is satisfied with their actions.”

Many non-Alabama fans will claim that the SEC is just protecting the Crimson Tide, but as we noted immediately after the SEC title game, we wondered if the league would really hand down a suspension with the stakes being so high.  We don’t believe the conference’s actions would have been any different had Georgia, LSU or Vanderbilt been heading to the BCS Championship Game.  Leagues don’t typically handicap their own teams heading into national title games. That might not be right, but it’s hardly surprising.

SEC coordinator of officials, Steve Shaw, stated on December 3rd that the officials in the Georgia Dome missed the call on Dial and should have flagged him.  But penalizing him and suspending him are two different things.

Dial clearly went high into UGA’s quarterback.  We would have handed him a suspension for the lick.

Nasty.

But was Murray a defenseless player?  When suspensions have been handed down by the SEC office in the past, a defenseless player has been hit above the shoulders by a defender using his own shoulder or helmet to deliver the big blow.

The NFL — which goes to great lengths to protect quarterbacks — does consider a quarterback “after a change of possession” to be a defenseless player.  But in the SEC’s case, we’ve seen suspensions handed down time and again for shots delivered to receivers and returners who are in the act of catching the football.  In the SEC’s eyes, players catching footballs might be viewed as defenseless while a quarterback like Murray might be seen as simply being unaware of his surroundings.  “Keep your head on a swivel,” as the saying goes.

Again, we’re not saying that’s how we would judge Dial’s hit on Murray, but that might be the hair the SEC is splitting on this one (though we believe the main reason there’ll be no suspension is the fact that all 14 league schools have a vested interest in Alabama bringing another crown back to the league’s trophy case.)

On the season, Dial recorded 21 tackles and 1.5 sacks while playing in 12 of Bama’s 13 games.

The conference’s release mentioned that multiple plays were reviewed and that’s clearly a reference to Georgia defensive back Sheldon Dawson’s eye-gouge of the Tide’s Dee Milliner in the same contest.  In both cases, the league seems to be taking a “no harm, no foul” approach.

So conspiracy theorists, have at it.  The league just threw you a hanging curve.

There were a number of questionable calls (that went against both teams) during Saturday’s night’s SEC Championship Game.  A tipped pass here, a roughing the passer there.  But one call is still stirring emotions on Tuesday morning… and still causing a number of fans to email a specific YouTube clip to the MrSEC inbox.

In Alabama’s 32-28 win over Georgia, Tide defensive lineman Quinton Dial delivered what was clearly a blow to the head of Bulldog quarterback Aaron Murray.  But Murray wasn’t in the pocket as a passer.  He was just another guy on the field after tossing an interception.  Let’s just say Murray didn’t keep his head on a swivel:

As you can see, there was clearly helmet-to-helmet contact on the play and SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw admitted yesterday that a flag should have been thrown (assuming an official saw the hit).  “We missed the call,” Shaw said.

According to Dial’s teammate Robert Lester, the senior lineman has been getting “a lot of heat from outside sources.”  Lester commented that the hit was just a part of football and you can bet Mike Slive won’t be thrilled to read the comments that follow after he’s suspended several players over the course of the last two years for illegal helmet-to-helmet or above-the-shoulder hits to defenseless players:

“I feel like it’s all a part of football.  Players take shots at us, we take shots at players.  It’s all football.  It’s a physical sport.  If you can got on the field and not get hit, more power to you.  That’s what football is about, hitting somebody, especially if you play defense.”

True enough.  But hitting someone legally is a requirement of the NCAA rule book and the SEC’s commissioner has been enforcing that call in especially egregious cases.

So, will Slive suspend Dial for Alabama’s next game — the BCS Championship Game with Notre Dame?  Shaw didn’t rule it out yesterday:

“As you’ve noticed, Commissioner has been vigilant on this and he did it when warranted and didn’t when it wasn’t.  I’m not sure the upcoming opponent is ever a condition in the decision.  I think it’s more based on the facts in the play…

By rule, you can’t hit a defenseless player above the shoulders.  What the determination needs to be is was this a defenseless player and was contact initiated above the shoulders?  When we go through video review of it, that’s what we’ll have to determine.  And then… as you break it down, did he lead with the head or lead with the shoulder?  From game action, it was a personal foul regardless of how we break it down frame by frame.”

Only, it wasn’t called as a personal foul on the field.

As for whether or not the hit will result in suspension, there’s little question that contact initiated above the shoulders.  Dial also clearly led with his head and not his shoulder.

But was Murray defenseless?  When Slive has suspended players in the past, it has been for hits against receivers and punt returners who were trying to catch passes.  Murray clearly had his eyes on the interception return, but is that a question of a player being defenseless or just unaware of his surroundings?

That could be a point the league office debates while determining its action.  If Murray’s “job” on the play was to catch a football and he got popped, it’s likely Dial would be suspended.  But Murray was simply not paying attention and the league may rule that while he didn’t see the hit coming, he was not literally “defenseless.”

That’s not our view, mind you.  We at MrSEC.com believe it was an unnecessary shot at an opposing quarterback — a protected species — and that Slive should hand Dial a one-game suspension.

The trouble is, Slive might not want to sit someone for a national title bout.  That’s a rare opportunity for a player (if you don’t play at Alabama).

Georgia AD Greg McGarity said he also missed the play during live action and that he was “stunned” when he viewed the hit on the internet.  “It is definitely a play we will submit for review, but I’m sure that’s already being done,” he said.  “I’m anxious to see what (Slive) says about it…. This is a case where it could have had serious implications on Aaron, not only in that game but in future games.”

You ca bet a lot of people in Tuscaloosa and South Bend are anxious to hear the commissioner’s ruling as well.

Dial has played in 12 of the Tide’s 13 games this season.  He’s recorded 21 total tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, and 1.5 sacks.  He also has four quarterback hurries.

SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw met the media today and stepped everyone through the rule changes coming to college football this season.  For the sake of knowledge, we encourage you to read his comments right here.

Each fall, we get tons of questions about rules and rule interpretations.  Mainly because no fan of any team has ever felt a call has gone for his favorite team.  That’s just sports.  Still, knowing the changes ahead of time might help fend off some Saturday rage down the road.

According to Shaw you can expect coaches’ sideline behavior to be a “point of emphasis” this year.  Also — as you know – many of the changes are being made to better protect players.

Get ready for a new look at some SEC football games this fall — refs wearing small mics and earpieces.  The NCAA football rules committee has approved a waiver that will allow the SEC to test wireless communications technology during some league games.

SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told The Birmingham News:

“We see great promise in this.  One of the questions is could this be a distraction to the crew?  We’re going to learn if it is.  If it’s a distraction, we’re not going to use it.  My goal is to have a better product of officiating on the field, and I think this is a tool that will help us get there.”

The upsides: Officials may have an easier time explaining penalties to coaches without huddling.  Ditto the ability to enforce penalties without huddling.  With less on-field gatherings, the game could move just a wee bit quicker.

Potential downsides: Raucous SEC stadiums could become too loud for officials to even hear what’s being said into their earpieces.  According to former SEC head of officials and current national supervisor of officials, Rogers Redding, “One of the challenges would be a big part of officiating is concentration, and you wouldn’t want a lot of chit-chat.”

The league has nine officiating crews and two of those units will be outfitted with the earpieces and tiny mics on their collars.  There will be no Broadway-style mics.

For those wondering, the SEC also said that officials in the instant replay booth will be able to hear the conversation on the field, but they will not be able to chime in.  According to Shaw, “We’d never have a situation where the replay guy looked at pass interference and said, ‘You need to pick up that flag.”

Will the new technology work?  Not enough to make many, many, many SEC fans stop complaining about the league’s officials.  That’s just part of fandom.  And there’s not a conference out there whose fans don’t honestly believe they have the worst refs in the world.

Earlier this week, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips made the following comment about Florida’s penchant for blocking punts:


“We’ve got receivers and DBs on our punt team to try and get that speed on the field.  They’ve got big guys pulling this guy that way, and this guy that way and a little fast guy with world-class speed comes up the middle to block it.”


By the time Phillips’ comments hit the internet, he was accusing Florida of doing something illegal.  Phillips said during yesterday’s teleconference that he’d done no such thing:


“Nothing illegal with that.  Nothing.  They do a great job and within the rules.  Everybody does it.  We try to do it also, so it’s nothing illegal.  I wasn’t saying that it’s anything illegal.  I was saying that do a great job of it.”


He stopped short of saying: “Please don’t whip the heck out of my team because I made you mad, Will Muschamp.  Please.” 

But here’s the thing, Phillips did seem to be suggesting in his earlier comments that UF uses a technique officials refer to as a “pull and shoot.”  And a pull and shoot maneuver is indeed illegal.

But SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told The Florida Times-Union that he saw nothing wrong with Florida’s punt block tactics during the Gators’ game with Tennessee last week (in which UF did block a punt):


“We reviewed all of them and there’s nothing on any of those plays that rises to the level of a pull and shoot.  There’s always going to be hand-grabbing and shoving but nothing to the level of a pull and shoot.”


Punt blocks and inflammatory comments aside, Phillips had better start winning some games at UK or it’s his head coaching career that might be pulled and shot.

New SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw spoke to the quarterback club in Montgomery, Alabama this week and he had one message to share regarding college football’s stiffer celebration penalty — Don’t blame us:


“… Keep in mind, it is not the officials doing this.  It is the coaches.  Not one official is on the rules committee.  The rules are made by the coaches.  This is what they agreed on and how they want the game run.  We are trying to implement the rule they made.”


Sound like a guy who wants officials to have to make more judgment calls?

Shaw was attempting to explain the circumstances that would call for points to be taken off the board due to a player’s on-field celebration.  Basically, if a player celebrates on the field of play prior to scoring, that’s a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the celebration.  Bye bye, points.

Only players on the field of play and involved in the play can draw such a penalty.  So if someone from the sideline rushes onto the field to celebrate, that’s still just a 15-yard dead-ball foul.

But the person doing the celebrating can be any of the 22 players taking part in a play… not just the ball-carrier:


“Say a quarterback throws a long touchdown pass and during the play he runs to midfield and does the throat-slash gesture to the opposing team.  The ball would be returned to midfield and the 15 yards marked off from there.  The touchdown wouldn’t count.”


(Think Shaw had any specific quarterback in mind with that throat slash example?)

So if your team see’s a 50-yard TD bomb turned into a 2nd-&-25 from its own 35 tomorrow, remember who’s to blame — the guy celebrating and the coaches who voted for this ridiculous rule change.  Not the NCAA and not the game officials. 

Literally… the coaches asked for it.

With Rogers Redding getting a promotion to the NCAA level, Steve Shaw will be stepping into the office of the SEC’s coordinator of officials.  The league’s new top cop is already setting some lofty goals:


“I think my desire is really to take my on-field experiences and the talent within our officiating staff and really make these guys the best they can be.  I’m not interested in us just being good; I was us to be absolutely the best we can be on every play, and that’s our goal.”


And that’s a darn good goal.  But even if he and the league’s officials hit that mark, it won’t matter to the public.

First, officials are human and they’re going to make mistakes just like coaches and players.  In fact, even replay officials might view a shot differently than the way you or I might view the very same video clip.  Mistakes — and if you don’t think they’re made in every sport look up the end of the Pirates/Braves game from Tuesday — give angry fans “proof” that a league’s officials are horrible.  Just check an ACC or Pac-12 messageboard one Sunday and you’ll find that their fans believe they have the worst refs in the world.  It’s a fact of life.

Second, every call made this year in an SEC game will be loved by one team’s fans and hated by the other’s.  Ever sit in the stands and count how many times you hear the home fans scream about the other team’s infractions?  Ever hear those same fans scream that their team should be flagged?  Ever?  Once?

Welcome to the Kobayashi Maru, Mr. Shaw… you’ve stepped into the ultimate no-win scenario.




UPDATE — We’ve been asked to post a bio of Shaw.  We ran more info on the man when he was hired half a year ago, but here’s the requested bio.

The good folks in the SEC PR department have put together a blow-by-blow of today’s main speakers.  It’s basically a listing of who said what — sort of what we do with direct quotes in real time — all bunched together in one short summary.

Their briefing also includes information from Steve Shaw, the SEC’s new coordinator of officials, who spoke of rule changes this morning.

1.  The NCAA has posted Mike Slive’s proposal for change on its website.

2.  Slive has too much to do to think about retiring.  (Which is why he’s in talks to extend his contract which ends next July.)

3.  SEC Media Days has outgrown Birmingham… according to Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News.

4.  Breaking down the new rules in college football, new SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw explained the new unsportsmanlike conduct penalty this morning.

5.  Steve Spurrier is getting his swagger back.

6.  Ole Miss will play its first game ever in the Pacific time zone this year (against Fresno State).

7.  Here are some of the best quotes from Day One of Media Days.

8.  There are a lot of reasons the SEC is so much better than anyone else in football.

9.  Auburn has determined that rolling the oaks at Toomer’s Corner won’t do harm to the trees.

10.  LSU will wear a set of Nike Pro Combat uniforms against Auburn this year.  (Come on, Nike, we’re waiting for our invite to this year’s unveiling in New York.)