SEC refs did everything they could to keep Alabama from beating Georgia

Give Kirby Smart and Georgia a lot of credit. They have a damn good football team. But the best player for Georgia on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa wasn't Gunner Stockton, who was brilliant, or any player wearing a helmet with a G on it. It was the guys in the black and white striped shirts.

They repeatedly cost Alabama chances. None bigger than missing an obvious pass interference on a throw from Keelon Russell to Rico Scott in the endzone. The Georgia defender ran through Scott well before the ball arrived on a 2nd-and-10 throw from the Bulldogs' 34-yard line:

That missed call was so bad that the guy in the TV truck threw the flag icon onto the screen even though one was never thrown. He just assumed it was coming because anyone with a set of eyes could see it was obviously pass interference, except for the guys whose job it is to make the call.

Russell was sacked on third down, forcing an Alabama punt, and the Crimson Tide never got the ball back, falling 20-17 in a game that was very much up for grabs.

That one call would have been bad enough. A game-decider in and of itself. But it was far from the only horrendous call/miss by this officiating crew that isn't fit to ref Pop Warner games, let alone the game of the year in the conference.

Multiple blown calls proved costly for Alabama vs. Georgia

Let's go through them, shall we?

How about in the second quarter after Bray Hubbard deflected and then intercepted a Stockton pass? The first play of the ensuing Alabama drive from the Georgia 29-yard-line was an ill-fated swing to EJ Crowell that lost a chunk of yards. But as Georgia was pushing back, they ripped his helmet off with a blatant facemask. No call.

That's a 15-yard penalty and a first down. That probably completely changes a drive that netted zero points, with Alabama ultimately punting after several negative plays. The facemask should have set Alabama up inside the redzone.

Then, there was the interception by QB Reese of Stockton late in the third quarter that was overturned. It's a close call, but I still haven't seen an angle that conclusively shows that the ball hit the ground. The call on the field was an interception, and it should have stood:

Then, Ryan Coleman-Williams gets knocked out of the game in the 4th quarter on what looked like clear and obvious targeting. No flag, no review.

The Georgia defender takes the brunt of the hit from his own guy, but there's helmet-to-helmet contact on Coleman-Williams when he is completely defenseless.

Inexcusable misses that all proved costly to Alabama's chances of winning the game. The Crimson Tide had some self-inflicted wounds, too, don't get me wrong, but this team was absolutely robbed of a chance to win this football game.

I know it. You know it. Every Georgia fan knows it too, as much as they won't want to admit it. But Bama gets all the calls, right?

This is as big of a screw job as the game in Knoxville in 2022. Greg Sankey should have to answer for it.

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