LSU coach Les Miles says he is satisfied with the response he received from the SEC about a questionable call by officials during the Tigers' game against Alabama.
Miles said Monday he has spoken with SEC commissioner Mike Slive and coordinator of officials Rogers Redding regarding a near-interception by Patrick Peterson in the ninth-ranked Tigers' 24-15 loss Saturday.
Miles says he was fine with what he was told, and if he felt differently, he "would say so."
SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said the league would not comment.
Alabama made it a two-score game with a field goal on the drive that would have ended if Peterson's catch had been ruled inbounds.
Alabama coach Nick Saban lashed out at the critics, not the officials.
"If I was an official and I was making what I made officiating because I love the game and I love doing it, and I was getting criticized by the media - including our announcers on TV - like these guys are getting criticized, I'd step back and say, 'I think I'll go to the lake this weekend. You can have this,'" Saban said. "That's what I'd do.
He also noted that LSU would still have had to drive nearly 70 yards with both quarterback Jordan Jefferson and tailback Charles Scott out with injuries, against one of the nation's top defenses.
"If it was an interception, that doesn't mean they win the game," Saban said. "It was hard for me to tell on our film. I don't watch the TV stuff. I can't tell you or give you an opinion one way or the other."
SEC Honorees: Tennessee offensive tackle Aaron Douglas was named offensive lineman of the week.
The redshirt freshman from Maryville helped the Vols to a 56-28 win over Memphis by grading at 90 percent for his 60 plays and finishing with no penalties and no sacks allowed.
Douglas added four knockdown blocks as the Vols compiled 566 yards of total offense, including 429 passing yards on 38 attempts.
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas and Florida punter Chas Henry are conference players of the week.
Mallett completed 23 of 27 passes for 329 yards and had a 1-yard touchdown run in a win over South Carolina. He set a school record for completion percentage.
Arenas had seven tackles, including two for a loss, in Alabama's victory over LSU.
Henry averaged nearly 53 yards on four punts in Florida's win over Vanderbilt. Georgia' Montez Robinson.was named defensive lineman of the week. Kentucky quarterback Morgan Newton won freshman honors.
Healthier Wildcats: A day after Kentucky coach Rich Brooks rattled off what he says was the longest injury list of the season, things were looking a little brighter the Wildcats prepared for Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Kentucky defeated Eastern Kentucky on Saturday without starting quarterback Mike Hartline, starting tailback Derrick Locke and top receiver Randall Cobb. However, Brooks said all three were progressing and had a good chance to play against the Commodores (2-8, 0-6).
Brooks is hoping the thumb injury that caused Cobb, a former Alcoa High star, to miss the EKU game will prove to ultimately benefit him.
"Randall's body is night and day better," Brooks said. "He's been hobbling through practice for three or four weeks, then he got the thumb. He had more juice in his step than I've seen in him in a month."
The only major Kentucky player Brooks ruled out for the game was T.C. Drake, who figures to miss two to three weeks with a pulled groin.
To reach a school-record fourth straight bowl, Kentucky needs to win one of its last three games against Vanderbilt, Georgia and Tennessee.
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Comments » 8
AtlantaTide writes:
Kudos to Miles; now that is the mature, proper and appropriate manner to handle these types of issues.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Not much else he can say. Video appears to have proven him right on the LSU pick.
Perchance we could use some younger ref's.
Gator's will beat the Tide by 15-17 in SEC CG.
kingwoodtx_vol writes:
I umpire high school baseball. I do it because I like officiating. You don't actually get to see much of the game because you have specific responsibilities that go beyond watching everything as a fan.
Several years ago, SEC football officials made something like $3000 plus expenses for a conference game. Not bad for a part time second job. Saban's comments about, "Doing it for the love of the game and taking it to the lake . . ." don't quite tell the whole story.
Yes, they do it because they like officiating. Yes, they like football (at least most officials like the sport they call, but not all do). But not a single one of them would do it for free!
As an aside, I watched the play on TV and all of the replays. Under the concept that there has to be CLEAR video proof that a call is wrong to be overturned, there was not a single replay that showed green between the toe of Petersen's cleats and the sideline. The best angle indicates that he PROBABLY was inbounds, but that is not CLEAR video proof. If it had been called an interception, there is no way that it would have been overturned the other way, hence no CLEAR video proof.
marinevol writes:
When you make $4.7 million a year, it's easy to say $40,000 for a part-time job is nothing. That's alot more than I make at my current job, working an average of 60 hours a week. And if Saban thinks SEC officials get rough criticism, he should hear someone get a job performance critique from my C.O., who is not the most sensitive guy I know. I would think that most people are subject to criticism for poor job performance. Why should SEC officials be any different?
micbrooks#212023 writes:
Nice objective post, but....that begs the question why it was called against LSU to begin with if it was that close. Not only that, what about the face mask no call on the LSU pass completion in the late 4th quarter. As a VOL fan I don't have a dog in this hunt, at least not this game, but I too believe slive has dictated that Bama and Fla have the best chances of putting the SEC in two BCS bowls, ergo, lets make sure they get to the SEC CG. FOLLOW the MONEY !!!! GBO
steamboatticket#484773 writes:
I never saw a replay that even got that angle. But you do make the salient point, no overturning the call on the field without clear video evidence. Your post begs the question...what can be done to improve SEC officiating?
bamahater writes:
just wait till you are on the end of a bad call against Slive's Darling gators. We will see how mature your coach (who has once complained that his fan base thought losing to MSU was equal to 9/11) and fans act.
do you really think the Sec will let it's Role Model (Tebow) not ride off into the sunset as a winner.
jstew6 writes:
I do not believe at that point in the game,LSU really wanted the ball.They were stacking LSU's player's up like cordwood.
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