Let’s begin with Folarin Balogun and Hugh Freeze in the same breath. We can only hope the U.S. soccer team doesn’t eventually reach the same inglorious ending.
Stay with me here, everyone. We’re talking the ugly side of SEC football.
Advertisement
And what better way to rehash the worst SEC officiating of the 21st century, than by comparing Balogun’s red card in Wednesday’s World Cup round of 32 to the worst of the worst of SEC officiating.
ARMOUR: Trash refereeing made USA red card a whole lot harder to swallow
OPINION: Expansion clock is ticking. Do Big Ten, SEC make final move?
It begins with last year’s Georgia-Auburn game, a comedy of (multiple) officiating errors so egregious, even the SEC had to admit it. When you suspend one of your longest-tenured referees for the remainder of the season and it’s early October, let’s just say he blew it.
Advertisement
Sort of like the VAR official in the USA’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina giving Balogun a red card that will have ramifications in the round of 16. Think targeting and college football: Balogun will miss the the USA’s next game because of the red card.
In the spirit of that horrific decision, we give you the top five worst officiating decisions of SEC football since 2000.
1. The catch that wasn’t: Florida at Tennessee, 2000
If only replay were available for the SEC’s biggest, baddest rivalry of the 1990s and early 2000s, there would’ve been zero debate.
Florida is at the Tennessee-3 with 19 seconds remaining, and trailing 23-20. Gators quarterback Jesse Palmer finds wideout Jabar Gaffney in the end zone for the game-winning score.
Only video replay clearly showed Gaffney didn’t have control of the ball before Vols cornerback Willie Myles knocked it loose. But because replay wasn’t available to all FBS schools until 2005, the call on the field stood.
Advertisement
Florida got the win and eventually won the SEC East Division with the tiebreaker over Tennessee, and then won the SEC championship.
2. Patrick Patterson’s interception: LSU at Alabama, 2009
It wasn’t ruled an interception by LSU’s star cornerback, but it sure as all get out was a pick. Patterson’s cleat left a mark inbounds, in the sod!
The turning point of a critical West Division game, and the beginning of the aura Tide coach Nick Saban — how can we say this? — got every call. Alabama led 21-15 late in the fourth quarter, and Patterson’s interception (yes, everyone, I know, he was ruled out of bounds) would’ve given LSU momentum and the ball with six minutes to play.
Instead, Alabama eventually kicked a field goal and went up 24-15, and the win changed the course of a season.
Advertisement
With a win, LSU would’ve had the tiebreaker over Alabama in the West Division — before the Tigers were upset by Ole Miss two weeks later. The Tide went on to win the national title, but not without a huge assist from a terrible call.
3. Hog Heaven: Arkansas at Florida, 2009
Where do we begin? How about from the opening drive, when it appeared officials would do just about anything to keep the defending national champion Gators alive in the BCS race.
But let’s move to the fourth quarter, where Arkansas led by seven with eight minutes to play and had momentum. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow threw short on a deep ball at the goal line — but got bailed out by a generous pass interference call against the Hogs.
Advertisement
You say generous, I say ridiculous.
A play later, the biggie: Hogs defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard, appearing to brace for a hit from Florida offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert, was called for unnecessary roughness after the two collided. On the next play, Gators running back Jeff Demps tied the score at 20 with a short touchdown run and the Gators eventually won by three.
Even the SEC couldn’t stomach the nonsense, suspending the crew for two weeks because of the egregious mistakes.
4. The mustard bottle game: Ole Miss at Tennessee, 2021
Lane Kiffin’s triumphant return to the program he coached for 14 months and left double-digit NCAA allegations in his wake, went just about how you’d think it would.
Advertisement
A controversial call that went against Tennessee. An Ole Miss win. And objects thrown at Kiffin from the 100,000-plus fans at Neyalnd Stadium.
Water bottles. A golf ball. And yes, a mustard bottle.
Meanwhile, the controversial call: the Vols trailed 31-26 with less than a minute remaining, and Hendon Hooker’s 24-yard pass to Jacob Warren (on 4th-and-24, no less), appeared to be short of a first down at the Ole Miss 40.
Video replay showed what appeared to be the correct spot, but that didn’t stop Tennessee fans from exploding at what they believed was a bad spot. That and, you know, Kiffin walking out of Knoxville with the Dub.
Advertisement
5. Before he was Joe Cool: LSU at Auburn, 2018
First, the particulars: LSU looks like it may have something in Ohio State transfer quarterback Joe Burrow. After two wins to begin the season, LSU travels to Auburn for a classic SEC fistfight.
Trailing 21-20, LSU takes possession with just under six minutes to play and Auburn never touches the ball again. A last-second field goal is the game-winner.
Now, the controversy: Auburn was called for pass interference twice on the final drive — both clearly poor calls that kept the LSU offense on the field. The first was on third-and-11, and would’ve given Auburn the ball back with a chance to run out the clock.
The second was at the Auburn 39 with a minute to play, a second-down sideline throw from Burrow to Justin Jefferson that Auburn cornerback Jamel Dean knocked away with his right hand. The official saw something else, and gave LSU a first down at the Auburn 24.
Advertisement
Three run plays later, LSU hit the game-winning field goal.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World Cup red card got you mad? It can’t touch historically ugly SEC officiating
