Earlier today, Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin was issued a public reprimand by the SEC for criticizing officials.
As of late this afternoon, Kiffin is no longer alone on the reprimand tour as the conference has done to the same to Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen.
Following his team’s loss to Florida, Mullen ripped the replay official in the game eight ways to Saturday, saying, among other things, that it was “embarrassing that they blew that call.”
“That call” Mullen refers to was UF linebacker Dustin Doe apparently being stripped of the football before he reached the end zone following a fourth-quarter interception. The play was reviewed and the call on the field was upheld, resulting in a touchdown for the Gators.
Mullen then called for the replay official in question to receive some sort of punishment, if not outright lose his SEC job. ”I mean, I hope he is severely punished, if (he) ever works another SEC game again, because I think it is completely unacceptable.,” Mullen said.
In publicly reprimanding Mullen, commissioner Mike Slive cited the conference’s Code of Ethics bylaw that bars public criticism of officials.
Dan was so upset about the call that he hung out with Tebow and his family after the game. How sweet. Maybe they prayed that just once the Gators will be on the other end of one of those calls. No, they probably prayed Timmy would win the National title and Heisman. Mullen, you are the head coach of MSU, not the former OC of Florida. Douche.
The SEC is going to lose what little credibility it has left if it does not get it’s officials under control, or is it the SEC’s policy for these officials to fix certain games.
John…is there a link anywhere to the replay? I would like to see it.
I guess the SEC is going to go around every week and tell coaches they shall not say bad things about the crappy officials. By far the NCAA’s worst by the way. They even slapped Bobby Petrino last week, after that ridiculous charade in Gainesville two weeks ago, a day after they suspended the crew.
I wish I were kidding. LOL..
@ Observer1: The only thing I could find was on the SEC site, and it’s simply the play, with no replays of it from any other angle: http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/video/miss-state.aspx . I found nothing on ESPN.com or YouTube.
Fix job.
i’m a florida fan, and i’ll admit that ball was stripped before he crossed the line.
i’ll also add that florida was already winning at that point and had already put MSU’s offense away. if MSU had gotten possession back at the 20 again, their offense would have most likely had another 3 and out. even if they drove the field and scored, it wouldn’t have mattered much.
but that doesn’t mean the officials shouldn’t get the calls correct. mullen has a right to be mad, but i don’t think this affected the outcome of the game.