The SEC's Image Problem is Worse Than Expected

While attending the Alabama-Mississippi State game in Starkville on Saturday, there were two things I learned.

The first was clear to anyone in that stadium: Alabama played their most complete game of the season in a 31-3 rout of the Bulldogs.

The second couldn't be realized from the press box. Those on the field wouldn't discover it, either. You had to be sitting in the stands to figure this out.

The second thing I learned was that the image of the SEC is in worse trouble than it could have ever imagined.

Sure, there are irrational fans in every stadium and in every section of said stadium.

However, both calls on Saturday that were fifty-fifty went the way of Alabama.

Chad Bumphis stepped out of bounds. Mark Barron did catch that interception.

To those in the stands, of course, these did not stand well with the crowd, and that's understood, but the excuses were laughable.

"Of course he caught it. Its the conspiracy in action."

"The SEC is already airing commercials for undefeated vs. undefeated. They are protecting those teams."

One guy even went as far to blame me because I had "Alabama" across my chest, and told me and my girlfriend, "You're gonna get it when you play Florida. Oh yea, its coming."

Let it also be known that State has a huge inferiority complex to Alabama, but that's just a small dose of why their fans feel this way.

The majority of it is because of the actions of those who are on the field and the resulting articles from those in the press box.

The scrutiny on officials this year has been at an all-time high, due in part to their mistakes.

It also hasn't helped that the questionable calls have gone in favor of the top two teams, Alabama and Florida.

It is unfair to believe that these calls are being made on purpose in the age of replay, which makes any conspiracy theory or theory on a theory ridiculous.

At the same time, though, these calls need to be right. Having a lack of HD televisions in the booth is not the problem. Its the fact this keeps happening week after week.

As for those in the press box, they actually shoulder more of the blame for this.

Instead of choosing to write about great performances, spectacular plays and the implications of game results, they decide to harp on a missed call which, at times, doesn't affect the games outcome.

Best example is the column that Andy Staples wrote after the Alabama-Tennessee game. Even though this article denounces the idea of a conspiracy, it also fuels the concept by saying a flag should have been thrown when it wasn't.

Instead of talking about Terrance Cody's impressive blocks of Daniel Lincoln field goals, Staples spends most of the column talking about how the flag that should have been thrown but wasn't meant nothing but everything. Seems pointless, right?

None of the national media dared to take the stance to stand up for the officials. How dare humans make mistakes. No one took their side until Nick Saban went on a patented rant about what I just summarized in the first line of this paragraph.

Dan Mullen, Bobby Petrino, Lane Kiffin and Urban Meyer all managed to be reprimanded for their negative talk, even to the point that Mike Slive had to implement fines as metaphorical muzzles for his most prolific coaches.

Of course, Slive is the one to blame for all of this ultimately, according to Jim Dunaway. When I interviewed him a few weeks ago, he pointed to Slive making public apologies for his officials, essentially selling them out. This loaded the gun that has been going off every other week.

In other words, there is a long road for this issue being resolved, even if this is fixable.

Some people have been calling for NCAA officials, releasing conference ties, and hiding any chance of conspiracy theories even beginning.

As a commissioner who has been at the forefront of may movements in the past decade, Slive may need to head this one up as well just to save the image of his conference.