To err is human -- and potentially lucrative for your conference

All these blatant officiating mistakes in college football? Like the potentially $17 million blown call Saturday that helped No. 3 Alabama stay undefeated against LSU? It's not a conspiracy.

But it's not an accident, either.

Coaches and conference referees see each other year after year. (Getty Images)

It's human frailty. That's all it is. It's outrageous, the way officials are screwing up this season -- missing some calls and inventing others, usually in favor of BCS-bound teams -- but it's understandable. To me, that's where this conversation needs to start: With an understanding that, as infuriating as these mistakes have been, they've not been made with intent.

They've been made by human beings who, consciously, understand that a crucial call can decide not just the outcome of the LSU-Alabama game, but the placement of their conference in the BCS standings. A crucial call that goes one way can lead to a BCS bowl lineup with one SEC team. But if that crucial call goes another way, the BCS bowl lineup could have two SEC teams, meaning millions of additional dollars for the conference. Those are facts every game official, on the field and in the replay booth, are consciously aware of.

And it leads to subconscious mistakes. Bad ones. The kind that you or I, if you or I were on the field or in the replay booth, probably wouldn't make. If we were in the replay booth for the LSU-Alabama game, for instance, we would have seen enough evidence that LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson definitely came down with one foot inbounds -- and might have had two feet down -- with 5:54 left and LSU trailing by six points. (Here's the video. Nice and concise.)

But that wasn't you or me in the replay booth. That was an SEC employee who wants to stay an SEC employee. And so on a judgment call, his brain tricked his eyes into seeing something only the Alabama fans among us saw. He saw a lack of conclusive evidence. Alabama kept the ball and drove for the field goal that put the game out of reach, 24-15.

The same thing happened the week before in the Big Ten. Iowa was undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the BCS standings, but Iowa was getting its butt kicked by Indiana. The officials came to the rescue in a way I've not seen before, calling every close play the Hawkeyes' way and most egregiously overturning an Indiana touchdown catch. The evidence on the replay definitely wasn't enough to overturn the call on the field, but that's what the replay official did. (And here's that video.) He overturned the call on the field. Do I think he consciously cheated Indiana? No.

But I think he subconsciously helped the Big Ten.

It's the most basic human element there is: self-protection. It happens in other areas of sports, too, like the team doctor who tells the football coach that his star player, coming off a concussion, can play in the next game. The team doctor wants to stay the team doctor, and he's not going to do that by telling the coach his best player can't play. So that factors into the decision. It's subconscious, and the doctor himself would be outraged at the idea, but I believe it's a factor. I believe that with all my heart.

Just like I believe with all my heart that game officials are helping their league's teams -- and their leagues -- stay in position for BCS consideration. But I believe it's subconscious. A game official reading this is probably furious. He's convinced that he would never, ever make a call based on a possible multimillion-dollar BCS payout for his league. And you keep telling yourself that, Mr. Official. You keep telling yourself that you're innocent of such unintended bias. But understand this:

The coaches in your league think you're guilty as hell.

Little-known fact, people, so pay attention here. The contract drawn up between schools for almost every non-conference game in college football has a clause determining which officials will call the game. When Texas plays Ohio State, for example, Texas wants a Big 12 crew. Ohio State wants a Big Ten crew.

In most cases the visiting team picks the officials, but that's not set in stone. It's negotiable, along with the payment to the visiting team. In some cases, a visiting team will sacrifice tens of thousands of dollars to be allowed to bring "its" officials.

So let me ask the question: If game officials are truly above having biases, why do coaches want it in writing that "their" officials will call the game?

More than a decade ago, coaches insisted on split crews, meaning four officials from the SEC would join three from the Pac-10 if Georgia were to play Washington. But the lack of familiarity between officials made the situation untenable, and there were other problems. After No. 1 Texas kicked a last-second field goal to tie No. 5 Oklahoma 15-15 in 1984 -- back when Texas was in the Southwest Conference, and Oklahoma was in the Big Eight -- OU coach Barry Switzer was furious about a disallowed interception that would have ended Texas' final drive. An SWC official ruled the OU defender out of bounds, leading Switzer to lament to the Associated Press, "There's a Big Eight official standing there watching him catch the ball. He's looking at the Southwest Conference guy signal him out of bounds -- and [the Big Eight guy] won't fight for us!"

Coaches expect allowances from officials. Why? Because they so often get allowances from officials. You remember that awful Oklahoma-Oregon game from 2006, when the replay official from the Pac-10 blew two late calls that helped Oregon stun the Sooners 34-33. The Pac-10 apologized. Lot of good that did Oklahoma.

And you remember two other examples from this season: An SEC crew called an excessive celebration penalty on Georgia that helped No. 4 LSU escape with its perfect record and BCS dreams intact on Oct. 3, and then that same crew invented a late personal foul against Arkansas that helped No. 1 Florida escape with a last-second victory. The SEC suspended that crew for a week, but the damage was done.

Rather, the good was done -- the SEC was one week closer to multiple BCS bids. How could that happen? Simple: Officials are human, and in related news, millions of dollars is a lot of money.