Sorry to disappoint you, ladies and gentlemen (and particularly James Carville), but there is no deep state within the Southeastern Conference office boosting Alabama through questionable officiating.
If there were one, though, it wouldn’t look much different from what’s happened during the 2018 season.
It’s apparently not enough for Alabama to be the best team in college football this year; it’s also the recipient of some significant help it probably did not need in the last two games against LSU and Mississippi State.
Though it’s a decades-old SEC tradition for fans of opposing schools to cry about conference office favoritism every time a controversial call goes in Alabama’s favor, that tinder box has been lit the last couple weeks thanks to slow-motion video revealing referee incompetence and a social media environment turning coincidence into conspiracy.
But it also highlights something very real in the SEC: the deep frustration of what increasingly seems like a hopeless quest to make Alabama appear mortal.
“I think ultimately what we preach to our players, and hopefully it's a thought process we subscribe to as a staff, is we have to control the controllables,” Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead said. "And the calls that are made are out of our hands. Obviously in a game of that magnitude, you're looking for a glimmer of hope. You don’t need to play a perfect game, but you need to play a near-perfect game for us to beat them.”
But Mississippi State fans left Saturday feeling like a lack of perfection — or even competence — from the officiating crew was an even a bigger story than how their team played.
The first bad call occurred on Alabama’s opening drive when running back Damien Harris’ knee was ruled down before fumbling the ball when replay clearly showed that possession should have gone to Mississippi State. Though Moorhead had an opportunity to challenge the play and didn’t, the replay booth also made an error by failing to call down to the field and saying it wanted to review the fumble.
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