Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

10/18/2010 at 1:59pm

How easy it must be for Arkansas Razorback fans Monday, following a 65-43 loss at Auburn, to wonder what Jim Allison does for a living and hope it doesn’t involve having to use his eyes.

Allison, we learned through CBS’ Verne Lundquist, not anyone from Auburn or from the Southeastern Conference office, was the replay official in Saturday’s Arkansas-Auburn game.

“Jim Allison, the replay official, has really earned his money today,” Lundquist would say in the fourth quarter, while officials on the field waited for his view of Broderick Green’s supposed fumble.

The typical reaction from anybody other than Auburn supporters has to be: Really? He earned his money? With that performance?

Truth is, the SEC believes he’s been good enough to be the replay official in the last two league championship games in Atlanta, both involving Alabama and Florida. Before that, he was on the field as an SEC umpire before his move upstairs. Unlike controversy that surfaced in the Pac-10 last week involving Arizona and a replay official, Allison doesn't appear to have played for Shug Jordan or Pat Dye back in the Tigers' glory days.

Allison has generally avoided controversy, but not without getting Alabama’s fans’ ire for overturning a call on the field in the Crimson Tide’s 41-34 loss to LSU in 2007.

Hog fans are only wishing Allison would have had the same view that they and CBS’ announcers had on Mario Fannin’s fumble at the 1-yard line that was eventually ruled a touchdown on the field, and then reviewed and upheld. Then, in the fourth quarter, came the fumble call on Green, when it seemed his rear had already hit the turf, that again was reviewed and upheld.

An interference call on the field can’t be reviewed or else the one called on Auburn against Van Stumon on a third-down pass in the second quarter might have been overturned. The first down allowed Arkansas to score a touchdown to take the lead at 14-10. Fannin’s phantom touchdown put Auburn back in front 17-14 on the Tigers’ next possession.

Penn Wagers has been involved in so many controversial calls in the SEC, it’s pointless to put just one web link here. Simply google “Penn Wagers” and read for yourself. In case Hog fans need reminding, he’s the one who was in charge of that outrageous last minute in Tuscaloosa in 2007, but Florida and LSU fans would just as soon never see him again either.

The point is, why does this happen so much in the SEC, the biggest and baddest BCS conference in the land? If the play on the field is so good, then why can’t the officiating match it?

Bobby Petrino didn’t bemoan Saturday’s officiating or the replay decisions. He couldn’t. It would cost him to say anything, he told the media in the post-game interview room near his team’s dressing room Saturday. Frankly, Petrino was in a lot better mood than most reporters expected, considering all that had transpired, with his starting quarterback, Ryan Mallett, knocked out of the game.

The pragmatist also trained to not blame officials for a game’s outcome will look at the 22-point margin and say that two blown calls from the replay booth didn’t matter. That’s the same person, though, who doesn’t understand momentum changes in football.

Then again, consider: Had a fumble been ruled on the Fannin ball drop, would Arkansas with Tyler Wilson now in to replace the injured Mallett, backed up in front of the Tiger’ vociferous student section, been able to get Arkansas out of the hole without turning the ball over to the Tigers in good field possession for the nearly unstoppable Cam Newton?

Did the replay decision cause Arkansas’s punt team, with a slow deep snap and a punter perhaps too close to the line, to totally blow it and allow a block on the next possession?

Did Green’s fumble cause Wilson, after such a hot start, to throw a pass up for grabs 30 yards downfield into an adjusted Auburn coverage, leading short Tigers scoring drive that all but iced the game?

That’s why calls matter and yet they don’t. Arkansas responded to the Fannin no-fumble and the punt block and still fought back to take a 43-37 lead. But the Hogs never possessed the ball in the game with the lead. Ever.

Right after going up 6, Arkansas allowed Tigers quarterback Cameron Newton and Auburn to drive for the go-ahead score playing a passive defense that failed to get off blocks, took bad angles and seemed to be on their heels with the shock of dealing with Newton, along with a secondary that seemed confused covering basic curl-in and slant routes.

That’s not to mention players who simply were overmatched most of the time by the 6-5, 250-pound Newton. Yes, he’s fantastic. He could be Vince Young, Matt Jones and Tim Tebow all rolled into one. He was Saturday, with a lot of credit going to Arkansas for making him look like it.

If the Tigers can avoid being flat Saturday at home against LSU after such an emotional game, and avoid a Houston Nutt trap in Oxford or overlooking an improved Georgia, Newton should zoom to the top of the Heisman race by the time the Auburn-Alabama game arrives in Tuscaloosa Nov. 26.

Still, how nice it would be to watch a close Arkansas game in the SEC that doesn’t revolve around dubious calls either on the field or from the replay booth, though. The good news about the Georgia game in September? Allison was the replay official there, and we can’t recall much anything of consequence being reviewed.

Thinking about over Petrino’s time only, though, you have the head-scratching Kentucky game in 2008 where at least a half-dozen illegal shifts or illegal formations were called on Arkansas by the line judge with then-UK coach Rich Brooks in his ear. Last year at Florida saw the endless parade of gaffes by a crew that was eventually suspended three weeks by the league office. Then came the strange last minute at LSU, with questionable clock stoppage that allowed LSU to cover enough yards in less than a minute to kick a tying field goal. Fast forward to the Alabama game, where officials did not dare call the Crimson Tide for a third-down interference penalty over the middle early in the fourth quarter, and Arkansas still leading the game.

We know thousands of Arkansas fans who won’t let the feeling of being hosed in 2003 in back-to-back games with Auburn and Florida pass, either.

A wise ol’ coach with an Arkansas connection, when asked a while back what he thought of Arkansas’ chances of ever succeeding in the SEC, said, “You’ve got to realize, those 10 teams have been in this league 70-something years. They’re like a fraternity, a club. That’s always going to be a problem for Arkansas, who’s only been in it since 1992.”

There are many days, especially when the games are close on the road, that it appears Arkansas is a non-conference team playing an SEC opponent. The dinner table at the original members club is tough for a perceived interloper to find a seat.

DANIELSON PULLS NO PUNCHES: CBS color analyst Gary Danielson has gradually grown on SEC fans’ ears, we think. He’s a regular guest on Paul Finebaum’s radio show, and it’s apparent that even if he’s not from around these parts, he sounds like he’s grown to appreciate every aspect of the league.

We caught the CBS replay of the Arkansas-Auburn game on Sunday.

When Tyler Wilson threw a perfect pass down the middle to Joe Adams for a third-quarter Hog touchdown, Danielson hollered, “There’s not another backup quarterback in the country who could have thrown that ball.”

When Hog safety Elton Ford was beaten on a deep slant by Auburn’s Emory Blake for a fourth-quarter TD that put the Tigers back in front, Danielson didn’t hold back. “That's just poor technique in the secondary for Arkansas.”

It’s obvious Lundquist and Danielson had quite a time broadcasting that four-hour shootout. Auburn’s game replay on CSS managed to trim it to two hours and include all the good stuff.

Compare that with Alabama vs. Ole Miss on one of ESPN’s channels later Saturday. Several of us watched most of that from The Vault, a two-story bar at Toomer’s Corner not too far from Jordan-Hare Stadium, the "Corner" trees all toilet-papered up by the Tigers faithful. Pretty awful, boring football from Tuscaloosa after seeing Arkansas-Auburn in person, then watching South Carolina blow it at Kentucky alongside several national writers in the Auburn press box, all amazed that Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier had outfoxed himself once again in the last 10 seconds.

Tagged: Joe Adams, Broderick Green, Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson, CBS Sports, Southeastern Conference, Jim Harris, Auburn Tigers, Gary Danielson, Verne Lundquist, Penn Wagers, Mario Fannin, Cameron Newton, James "Jim" Allison