SEC Coordinator of Officials: Pace of play a 'Democrat-Republican issue'

DESTIN, Fla. – The opposing sides among SEC football coaches concerning the pace of play are like an Inside the Beltway squabble.

Though the controversial 10-second rule proposal was resoundingly squashed this spring before it ever was put to a vote, the issue is not going away.

"We had a long discussion, and I can tell you a long, productive discussion, about tempo and pace of play," SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said during the SEC Spring Meetings on Thursday. "It's a Democrat-Republican issue. There's some Democrats, and there's some Republicans, and they're probably never going to change sides."

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and Alabama coach Nick Saban were the most ardent supporters of the rule, with Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin and Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze among those in opposition..

Shaw worked under both the 25-second play clock and today's 40-second clock.

Part of the logic to changing the play clock was the expectation in the past of a referee being able to set the ball between 12 and 15 seconds between plays, but that was before hurry-up offenses became as widespread as they are today.

"Nobody saw this as a big issue until it evolved," Shaw said.

As long as the current rules are in place regarding substitutions and pace of play, Shaw said the national standard for officials will be to move at a "crisp jog" in order to set the ball.

"You will not walk and you will not sprint to spot the ball; we expect a crisp jog," he said. "Don't jump over players, don't do anything unnatural, but a crisp jog back to the spot, look and get a good spot, put it down, look to the referee, no substitutions and you move out."

But that's an ambiguous measure and officials crews can vary within a conference, let alone from one league to another.

The goal is for as close to uniformity as possible but will always be imperfect.

In the hopes of improving the consistency in pace the SEC is experimenting with an eight-man officiating crew. That crew, led by referee Matt Loeffler, will rotate each week and officiate at least one game for each team during the course of the 2014 season.

The additional official will be the "center judge," identified with a "C" on their back, who will line up opposite the referee in the offensive backfield.

"The intent of this is not to change our pace, and we've worked very hard in the spring on being very consistent, nine crews being the same way as far as pace, and in fact nationally we're all working on that," Shaw said. "When we go into no-huddle the center judge will spot the ball every play. What that allows now is the referee and umpire to do their normal duty. … The center judge will stay there, he'll actually be behind the center, he'll be the one that 'yo-yos' in and out to hold the offense, which will allow the umpire to get back in his position."

The Big XII approved the use of eight-man crews this season.

Shaw was "encouraged" by what he saw from the eight-man crews who worked spring games, including Auburn's A-Day game.

"I think that could be a good thing," Malzahn said of eight-man officiating crews. "I'm fine with (where the center judge is). The thing about it — the officials are in position to call the game properly and there's been other conferences that had success with it."

The destination for the opening week of the season for Loeffler's crew has not been determined, but the SEC only has two conference games – Texas A&M at South Carolina and Arkansas at Auburn – in week 1.

The Thursday night game does not sound likely, leaving Auburn's opener as a possible destination.

Loeffler's crew worked the game in Fayetteville last season, which Auburn won 35-17.

"I'm not sure we're ready to go primetime with it just yet," Shaw said. "It could be that Saturday. (Auburn-Arkansas) would be intriguing, but we'll have to wait and see."