Jim's Notebook: While One Call Admittedly Blown, SEC Can't Help on Judgment Plays

JUDGMENT CALLS: The Southeastern Conference confirmed what everyone else -- other than the Arkansas-Florida game officials -- has known since Saturday: the personal foul penalty on Razorback defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard late on the fourth quarter of the Gators' 23-20 win was an incorrect call.

There was no apparent foul committed by Sheppard, the league confirmed Monday. The penalty, marked off half-the-distance to the goal line and preceding a 10-yard touchdown run by the Gators' Jeffrey Demps, was one of two that gave Florida 25 unearned yards in its 67-yard game-tying drive.

Still, those calls did not win or lose the game for Arkansas. The Razorbacks could have taken the lead on their ensuing drive, but Alex Tejada pull-hooked a 38-yard field goal with 3:08 left. Tim Tebow then led Florida on a penalty-free drive to the winning field goal with nine seconds left.

As for an interference call on Ramon Broadway that preceded the personal foul on Sheppard, the SEC office said it was a "judgment call," just as was the "no call" on Florida receiver Riley Cooper going through Arkansas' Andru Stewart to prevent an interception in the end zone on an ill-advised Tebow throw on the game-winning drive.

Lots of officiating judgment was in question Saturday, and there is no recourse, just as all is done in Georgia's loss to LSU two weeks ago when the same officiating crew was determined to have incorrectly called a celebration penalty on the Bulldogs' A.J. Green. After a touchdown to put the Dogs ahead with 1:01 to play. LSU, afforded good field position after the penalty and ensuing kick return, scored to win the game.

The point with Arkansas' side after the game was an apparent bias shown by the crew in its officiating throughout the game: ball spots that regularly seemed to favor Florida, or ones that were obviously less than the yardage gained by Arkansas; plays that could have drawn personal foul flags on Florida that were ignored; even a 25-second clock expiration that was blatantly missed, as a photograph shows, when Caleb Sturgis hit a 51-yard field goal early in the second half. He cleared it by about 8 yards, though, so a 56-yarder wouldn't have been out of his range.

To be fair, it appeared Arkansas benefited late on a snap after the play clock expired, too, but the Hogs were also whistled for one in the first half when the play clock seemingly was started too early after a whistle stoppage.

Pass interference is usually always a judgment decision. Two years ago in Tuscaloosa, it appeared Arkansas was homered at the end by Penn Wagers' crew in Alabama's 38-34 comeback win. Maybe the striped ones don't feel as comfortable making a call against the visitors in front of 90,000 partisan and serious SEC fans.

You may ask, though, watching SEC games week to week, why does one team's linebackers often get to deck the tight end before the ball has arrived, or a defensive back get to drape a back arm against a receiver before the catch is made, while another team's players don't. Auburn picked up at least three costly pass interference flags against Arkansas in the Oct. 10 game at Fayetteville, probably making the same type plays the Tigers thought were legal at home against, say, West Virginia.