SEC may discipline referee - Ala.-Ga. game

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Athens — SEC coordinator of officials Gerald Boudreaux said the league could take action against referee Tom Lopes for his performance in last Saturday's Alabama-Georgia game. But if it does, nobody else will know about it.

"There will be the normal review process and it will conclude when I look at the clips [Georgia coach] Dennis [Felton] sent," Boudreaux told the Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. "We have options within our review process. But if there is any follow-up, we're not going to release anything about it. There will be no official statement coming out of this office."

Boudreaux said officials can be reprimanded or suspended and that there's an end-of-the-year review in which the league could choose not to renew its contract with an individual referee. There is also the option of reassignment but Boudreaux said that a published report that Lopes had been taken off Georgia games was "not accurate."

"The schedule is made at the beginning of the year and it has not changed," Boudreaux said.

Boudreaux said he has talked extensively with Felton about last Saturday's game, won by Alabama 78-76 on a buzzer-beater by Ronald Steele. He said he has reviewed videotape of the game but had not yet received the DVD which Felton sent, documenting 23 alleged bad calls that went against Georgia.

Boudreaux admitted "there were some plays missed" by the crew officiating the Alabama-Georgia game but that happens sometimes "because of the talent and athleticism of the players."

"As long as a human element is involved there will be mistakes but we want to keep them to a minimum," said Boudreaux, who took over as coordinator this season after 20 years as an on-court referee. "But as far as accountability and recourse, it's all in place."