The Great SEC Officiating Conspiracy

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This was true under Saban team. His teams were highly penalized until he got to Bama

Aggresive defenses usually are

Then they went over 9 games without a holding call 1 year

I wasn't surprised at these facts:

--LSU is dead last in the SEC in penalties/penalty yardage margin over the past four years, and has not had a positive margin in any of those seasons.

--When Ritter officiates our games, our penalties/penalty yardage negative margin almost TRIPLES.

--There is only one officiating crew in the SEC with which LSU has a positive penalties/penalty yardage margin.

What did surprise me, although I guess it shouldn't have, was this...

--Ritter's crew has officiated more LSU games than any other SEC crew over the last four years. Only one other crew is even in the same ballpark as far as the number of LSU games officiated.

--The ONE crew with which LSU has a positive margin has officiated fewer LSU games than any other crew over the last four years, and has not officiated any LSU game since 2013.

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SIAP--searched and found nothing.

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thought about posting this when I read it, but I thought better of it

I didn't walk away from the article with the same takeaways that the author did.

The author seems fixated with comparing LSU's penalties to Bama and the other schools, in order to prove or disprove an officiating bias through the lens of the rest of the SEC and Bama, in particular.

That doesn't disprove or discredit the hard data that:

1. Ritter's crew flag LSU at a greater rate than other teams.
2. Ritter's crew works more LSU games than any other crew.

This is not just about the Bama game. This is about Ritter.

The author's narrative at the conclusion is focused on the wrong topic.

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Unfortunately, this means we can't drum Tom Ritter out of the SEC for being a dirty cheater who is helping out Alabama.

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No, we can drum Tom Ritter out of the SEC for disproportionately flagging LSU for some unknown reason. ASK WHY. Bama is irrelevant to this discussion.

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However, LSU fans are correct when they complain that the refs throw more flags against LSU than their opponents, and its worse for LSU than any team in the SEC.

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Ritter is a direct cause of this.

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Now, it is up to you to decide whether that margin is legitimate or the product of unconscious bias. It is not, however, the product of a league wide conspiracy.

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We don't need it to be a league-wide conspiracy. We need our questions to focus on RITTER.

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Really, the only thing LSU can do to stem the penalty tide is to somehow eliminate all unconscious bias against the Tigers as an undisciplined team who commits too many penalties. Good luck fighting that narrative.

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WRONG. That's not the only thing we can do. We can have Ritter investigated.

The more general LSU makes its argument, the weaker it is. The more targeted we make it, the stronger it is.

The data shows Ritter flags LSU at an absurdly high rate. The data shows we pull Ritter's crew more than any other crew.

Ask why. FRAME the argument around Ritter.

One last thing: do you think Bama would put up with this shite? Do you think they wouldn't ask questions about a specific ref? Why are we so eager to run up the white flag and say we can't do anything about it?