Georgia beat Alabama 20-17 in Tuscaloosa, and by Sunday morning half the sport had decided the referees handed the Bulldogs that win. Alabama handed it to them. The officiating crew just happened to go first.
Start with what actually happened, because it's bad. Inside the final four minutes, with Georgia up three, Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell threw into the end zone for Rico Scott. Georgia's KJ Bolden came across without ever turning to find the ball, made contact with Scott, and got away with it when Russell's pass caromed off him instead. No flag. It was a blown call, and everybody watching knew it.
So the call was wrong. Say it and move on, because the next sequence is the one Alabama fans would rather skip. After that no-call, Bolden sacked Russell on third down, forcing a punt. Georgia got the ball back and never had to give it up, because Alabama cornerback Dijon Lee shoved a Georgia receiver to the ground after the whistle and turned a manageable situation into a personal foul that let the Bulldogs run out the clock. Nobody made Lee do that. That one belonged entirely to him, in front of his own fans, with the game still alive.
A team good enough to win this game finishes it on its own and keeps the door closed. Alabama had three-plus quarters to build a lead it could defend. It didn't, and then it made the problem worse at the exact moment it needed discipline most.
None of this excuses the crew. The SEC has a real, repeated officiating problem this season, and this was another data point. Whoever ran that crew should hear about it this week, loudly, and probably shouldn't work a game like this again soon. But a missed flag on one incompletion doesn't erase a game Georgia was already leading, in a stadium it hadn't won since 2007, under a coach who'd never beaten Alabama in the regular season until Saturday. Kirby Smart finally got this one on his own merits.
Alabama fans are furious at four officials who got one call wrong. They should save some of that fury for the cornerback who got a far simpler decision wrong at the worst possible moment, with no excuse at all.
