Tide's win is no masterpiece for maligned SEC officials

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Daniel Moore, grab your brush. You've spent a lifetime committing to canvas some of the greatest moments in Alabama football history. Your work hangs in some of the state's finest gallerias.

It's kitschy; it's cool with a bit of a velvet Elvis feel to it. It's a bit Howie Mandel in that we see waaaay too much of them, considering the Bear's been gone for a while and the Tide haven't won so much as a conference title in 10 years, but it has an audience.

Seriously, though, where do you start with what happened Saturday night?

Your team won, 24-15 over hated LSU, and clinched a spot in the SEC title game for the second consecutive year. The national title dream is still alive. But even you, Daniel, have to admit that 'Bama quarterback Greg McElroy was trying to set the conference record for most wide-open receivers overthrown in a single afternoon. It was so close that LSU was leading 15-10 in the fourth quarter despite missing three starters due to injury.

Fortunately for your Tide, the coaches made the startling discovery that tailback Mark Ingram can carry a misfiring offense. The much-smothered Julio Jones made basically one play -- a 73-yard touchdown pass and run on a receiver screen -- and that was it.

It was that close, that wonderful and that great, except for one thing: How, exactly, do you paint a conspiracy theory? That's what they'll be screaming from here to Fayetteville and back in the SEC. Did LSU corner Patrick Peterson come down inbounds with an interception of a McElroy pass with 5:54 left in the game?

Early returns say he did, despite a ruling on the field that the pass was incomplete and backed up by the video replay booth. From this viewpoint, supported by sideline witnesses and seemingly by replays, Peterson's left foot was in and Peterson himself says both feet. CBS television kept showing a divot inbounds that looked like it was created when the sophomore cornerback landed. If that's the case, you have to wonder how it can happen again. The SEC -- Suspend Everybody Conference -- has another flaming bag of poo on its porch.

"Speculation," LSU coach Les Miles deadpanned, "is rampant."

Conspiracy theory? It seems like every major call in this league this season has gone in favor of the two undefeated superpowers. Florida clinched its spot in the SEC title game last week. Yeah, it's a mess, and like last Sunday's YouTube video of Brandon Spikes going eye surgeon on that Georgia tailback, this sucker's about to go viral.

"The difficult issue that I have is telling my team," Miles said. "The issue is telling Patrick Peterson who, in his mind, knows that it's an interception."

The issue is not whether LSU would have been able to go 69 yards or so for the winning score trailing 21-15 at that point. It would have been tough, but so were the Tigers, who led 15-10 in the fourth quarter despite missing their quarterback (Jordan Jefferson, ankle), tailback (Charles Scott, possible broken collarbone) and best corner (Peterson, cramps).

The issue is getting things right in a league which had just caught its breath after the hefty fine given to Florida's Urban Meyer for criticizing officials. Getting things right in a league that has the best football and best fans, but seemingly a group of officials on the field and in the booth who treat their jobs like spilled beer at the frat house.

So what? Somebody will clean it up.

In the space of a week before Saturday:

• Commissioner Mike Slive went to the suspension and fine card;

• Spikes was outed on YouTube, then suspended a half-game;

• His coach became the first one to dare Slive to play the suspension and fine card;

• Spikes was suspended some more, this time by himself;

• Slive played the fine card, docking Meyer $30,000 on Friday.

A week from now, the suspended crew in that Florida-Arkansas mess is due to come back, and now this? Somebody get a mop: The frat-house floor is getting sticky.

How, Daniel, do you paint a veteran SEC official spending an afternoon raking leaves? That's what one Gerald Hodges, listed as the replay official who worked the game, might be doing next week if he is suspended for not overturning the call on the field.

Hodges, by the way, is a former on-field official who was quoted in 2006 as saying, "I'm all for it [replay] -- anything we can use to correct a play and get it right."

Patrick Peterson (7) stays in Julio Jones' grill until the LSU corner leaves the game with cramping. (AP)

"I clearly thought it was an interception," LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee said. "I was right there when he did it. His foot looked inbounds. I saw the divot on the ground. Our football team on offense were ready to go out there. I couldn't believe it."

Neither could Peterson.

"When I caught the ball ... I tried to get two feet in. I believe I got two feet in," the sophomore corner said. "Definitely the foot marks left on the field [show it]. Not even on the white [sideline], it was all on the green. ..."

As you know, Daniel, nothing was at stake Saturday except Alabama's continued pursuit of a national championship and that first SEC title in a decade. The BCS was about to be ripped asunder with LSU leading in the fourth quarter and then -- voilà! -- 'Bama won. Florida knows the feeling -- it was trailing Arkansas at Gainesville in the fourth quarter until the infamous Marc Curles called a phantom personal foul. That was after the same crew had called a phantom excessive celebration penalty against Georgia in a game against LSU.

Early in the game on Saturday, we were informed there was "no replay available." In the fourth quarter, an official clearly made a mistake spotting the ball after LSU ran into the punter. A fourth-and-six from the 50 became, well, fourth and less than a half-yard after the ball was marked inside LSU's 45.

Two plays later, having returned from cramping up, Peterson stepped in front of Jones and, well, all hell may be breaking loose again.

"It was kind of like an, 'Oh shoot,' moment," said McElroy, who regretted throwing the pass the moment it left his hand. "Sometimes you have calls go in your favor. That one did."

As this rate, SEC supervisor of officials Rogers Redding is going to be hoisting the conference championship trophy in Atlanta in a month.

"When he jumped for it, he came down out of bounds," Jones said of Peterson.

Of course, Jones has a bias. He had been going at it with Peterson the whole game. With Peterson covering him, Jones had six balls thrown to him. There were four incompletions, a pass interference on Peterson and the dreaded replay.

"What's funny is Julio got real mad at one point in the game," McElroy said. "No. 7 [Peterson] was talking. He said, 'We're going to show him.'"

By the time Jones showed him, the receiver was deep in the doghouse as Jones had dropped a pass earlier. He was penalized in the fourth quarter after being the 12th man on the field in the red zone. That forced a furious Nick Saban to settle for a field goal.

Peterson was on the sideline with cramps when Jones lined up against sophomore safety Brandon Taylor. A simple hitch pass turned into a game breaker when Taylor failed to tackle Jones on the sideline. It was his second touchdown in the last 17 games.

That's why it's clear that its defense will get Alabama to whatever heights it is going to reach this season. That and Ingram, who Saban finally discovered in the second half. Sixteen of Ingram's 22 carries and 106 of his 144 yards came after the coaches wised up and started pounding their best, and pretty much only, offensive weapon.

Yes, Daniel, even though the Tide are still on track for greatness, they also can be defined by how McElroy's pass to Jones was ruled late in the game.

Incomplete.