In its 41-38 upset of No. 4 Florida on Saturday, Texas A&M racked up five penalties for a loss of 67 yards: one roughing the passer, a pair of personal fouls, and two unsportsmanlike conducts, one of which was offset by one from Florida.
Penalties are something that have plagued the Aggies all season, with a total of 20 for a total loss of 175 yards over the first three games. A&M coach Jimbo Fisher has stressed the importance of cleaning up those mistakes.
But after Saturday’s win over the Gators, Fisher only briefly expressed his frustration with the Aggies for the self-inflicted wounds. Instead, he chose to focus mainly on the SEC officials.
“There’s a couple of [penalties] I disagree with on some late hits,” Fisher said. “We get picked up and driven in the ground last week and we’re told that’s OK. You hit one of them, rush one of them, and now that’s a penalty. We’re going to have a little talk about that, you can bank on that. I’m tired of it. We’re going to see what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Against Alabama on Oct. 3, the Aggies had seven penalties for 58 yards compared to Alabama’s six for 40. Fisher said he thinks Alabama should have had more penalties called against them based on what was called against the Aggies on Saturday.
“We had five penalties [against Florida] and they’re all critical penalties,” Fisher said. “We get picked up and driven on the ground last week and it’s alright. But now all of a sudden it’s not. I coached like they called last week.”
Despite his frustration with the officials, Fisher didn’t let his team escape unscathed.
“The other discipline penalties, that’s ridiculous,” Fisher said. “It’s not going to happen and we’re going to stop it.”
Fisher and the Aggies aren’t the only team upset with officiating in the SEC. The conference released a statement three hours after Auburn’s 30-28 win over Arkansas regarding a call late in that game’s fourth quarter.
Down 28-27, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix dropped a snap in an attempt to spike the ball and stop the clock with under 30 seconds in the game. Though he recovered it, he spiked the ball backward, which would have been a fumble.
That’s not what the SEC’s officiating crew ruled, however, as they declared it intentional grounding, allowing Auburn to kick a field goal and win the game.
“There is conclusive video evidence that the pass was backwards,” the SEC’s statement said. “However, because recovery of the football was not clearly made in the immediate continuing football action, the ruling on the field was determined to stand.”
Regardless of whether the officiating changes move forward as the Aggies take on Mississippi State on Oct. 17, A&M senior quarterback Kellen Mond said the Aggies are responsible for minimizing their own mistakes.
“We knew what type of team Florida was coming into it. We knew it was going to get pretty chippy,” Mond said. “That’s just the composure we talk about, playing that next play, having that mentality to play the next play. I think we did that this morning.”