No matter the evidence you throw in their faces, rival fans will consistently cry that Alabama gets special officiating treatment despite so much evidence to the contrary.
Whether it's phantom pass interference calls in Knoxville that cost Alabama a rivalry win in 2022, or last season's atrocious illegal formation call in Norman, refs do not give the Crimson Tide preferential treatment. In fact, Alabama tends to get penalized more than others.
Even in the years of dominant Tide defense and pass rushes, rarely did opponents get called for holding penalties. It was as if officials didn't think Alabama needed any additional help, so they constantly swallowed their whistles.
You'll never get opposing fans to believe that, though. Alabama's dominance can only be described by blatant cheating in recruiting and the league office being in Birmingham. Those REC checks are always in the mail.
They won't believe it even after this weekend's referee assignments once again point toward Alabama getting the raw end of the deal.
Alabama gets screwed in this weekend's officiating assignments
On Thursday night, the SEC released the officiating assignments for each league game this week. To the surprise of absolutely no Alabama fan - the Crimson Tide gets royally screwed:
Officiating Assignments • Week 1#SECFB pic.twitter.com/15T7y3M7rw
— SEC Officiating (@SECOfficiating) August 28, 2025
It has been customary over the years for road teams in marquee matchups to get their league officials. If not, then a neutral crew is brought in. It's rare to play a road non-conference game and the officials be from the home team's conference.
Auburn (at Baylor), Texas (at Ohio State), and LSU (at Clemson) will get SEC officials in tough road environments. Tennessee (neutral vs. Syracuse) gets a Big Ten officiating crew.
What does Alabama get on the road against an ACC opponent? An ACC officiating crew. Because of course they do.
The narrative should have died years ago that Alabama gets any preferential treatment from any officiating crews. There's been a pile of evidence to show that narrative is complete nonsense. The officiating assignments for this weekend should only further drive the nail into the coffin.
It won't, however, because fans only see what they want to see. And rival fans only want to believe that Alabama has won so much because of cheating, not because they have consistently fielded great teams. That couldn't possibly be it.
So remember that tomorrow, when a questionable call inevitably goes against the Crimson Tide. It shouldn't be enough to swing the outcome of the game, but the ACC refs are going to have built-in bias toward the home team. Not that anyone outside of Tuscaloosa will care.