Saban comes to defense of refs

TUSCALOOSA — As besieged Southeastern Conference officials continue to get ripped for perceived poor performance, a white knight wearing a straw hat came riding to their rescue Monday.

“Can somebody stand up and fight for these guys and what they do for the game?” asked Alabama coach Nick Saban, who did just that.
The coach was responding to a question about a controversial call that went in his team’s favor during its 24-15 victory over LSU.

With the Crimson Tide leading 21-15 midway through the fourth quarter, LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson stepped in front of Greg McElroy’s pass for Julio Jones on the right sideline, in front of the Tigers bench.

The play was ruled an incompletion and officials didn’t overturn the call on the field, despite some angles indicating Peterson did get at least one foot inbounds.

Already under fire for a series of questionable calls by officials, the SEC said it would communicate only with LSU about the play.

Purple and gold fans remain upset, some charging bias since unbeaten teams Florida and Alabama have been benefited from calls that went their way.

Saban was asked his response to the outrage.

“It doesn’t bother me at all. Does it bother you?” he said. “If it was an interception, that doesn’t mean they win the game. I saw it and it was hard for me to tell on our film. I don’t watch the TV stuff, so I can’t tell you or give you an opinion one way or the other.”

That’s when Saban left little doubt he’s tired of the ref-baiting.

“I just really do believe this: If I was an official and I was making what I made officiating because I love the game and I love doing it, and I was getting criticized by the media, including our announcers on TV, like these guys get criticized, I step back and say, ‘I think I’ll go to the lake this weekend. You can have this.’ That’s what I would do,” Saban said.

“I mean, those guys, they do a great job , they work their tail off and try to do a good job.”

LSU is still wondering “what if” the call had gone its way.

Tigers coach Les Miles walked very carefully around criticizing the officials.

“I believe the officials work hard and make as good a quality of a call as they can,” Miles said. “The difficult issue that I have is telling my team. That’s the issue. The issue is telling Patrick Peterson, who, in his mind, knows it was an interception.”

The replay wasn’t as clear on the other side of the field.

“I’m not sure if it was an interception or not,” Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy said Monday. “It might have been. I mean, who knows? The guy made a heck of a play on it. Whether it was an interception or not, he broke up the pass, and it was a heck of a play.”

McElroy doesn’t understand questioning the referee’s integrity, however.

“They’re very professional in their job,” the quarterback said. “They take their job very seriously, and they do a fantastic job and 99 percent of the time, they’re going to get the call right.”

McElroy said the fuss doesn’t taint the Tide’s victory.

” I can’t say that ... because had that ball even been intercepted, they still would have had to drive the length of the field and score a touchdown to get a win,” he said. “So I can’t say that it’s helped us in any way or hurt us. I mean, people get calls. People don’t get calls. There’s been as many calls against us as there has been for us.”

Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas said he’s never had an issue with referees.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the officiating. I got there and play ball each and every week,” he said.

That doesn’t mean he agrees with every call, of course.

“If they throw a flag on me, I’m always going to throw my hands up in the air,” he said. “That’s my first reaction, know what I’m saying?”
Arenas said he’d never want to be a ref.

“They’ve got to tell 92,000 angry fans what they don’t want to hear. And those fans have beer bottles in their hands,” he said. “They have the hardest job out there.”