For the first time, it seems a coaching official is given the boot by the SEC during the season. After all, the game with the most shocking officiating was an important one for the league. It was a game where those brutal calls cost Auburn a much-needed win against Georgia. Kirk Herbstreit opened up on the “groundbreaking” situation.

The SEC has “permanently suspended” referee Ken Williamson for the hotly-debated calls that came by in the Georgia-Auburn game. Herbstreit opened up about the surprising move. “I do think that if a guy has consistently had rough outings where a league or a conference has to call coach or call an athletic director and basically apologize for a miss – and that happens at a regular rate – then I think this is, as you said, groundbreaking,” he said in a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

According to Yellowhammer News, the conference saw 11 complaints lodged because of those game-defining decisions. 9 of them were validated by SEC officials. The most troubling of them was the Jackson Arnold touchdown that was ruled a fumble. And of course, who can forget ‘ClapGate,’ courtesy of Kirby Smart? Georgia was still awarded a fresh play despite the HC specifying that he wasn’t calling for a timeout.

Though this move will soothe the Georgia blow a little for Auburn fans, the referee community is in for a true shock. Ken Williamson has been in this line for 41 years, the last 21 being in the SEC. For such a move to come in the most tense stretch of the season is unprecedented, which even Herbstreit echoed. Coincidentally, Williamson has also been involved in big games, one being the 2019 CFP Fiesta Bowl Semi-Final. Buckeyes fans had also called out controversial officiating that cost them the a trip to the National Championship game as they lost to Clemson.

Hugh Freeze surely felt the pain of that officiating. “There are a lot of times when I make bad calls, and officials do the same,” he said after the game. “But it certainly feels like we are not getting many of the breaks.” Freeze also admitted that he spoke with Greg Sankey and the SEC, to put forward his side of the story. “They listened,” he told the press afterwards. “It’s hurting our football team, and it’s hurt, in my opinion, our record,” he said of the game’s officiation. However, not everyone is happy by the SEC’s decision.

Veteran referee Terry McAulay tears into SEC for suspending Ken Williamson

Former NFL referee and rules analyst for NBC. Terry McAulay sounded off on the SEC for suspending Williamson. “This is insane. Ken is a very good referee and has been for a very long time,” he shared on X. “If this is solely based on that one game, then shame on everyone involved,” he added. McAulay also called for conferences to step away from supervising officiating.

However, the analyst did admit that Williamson’s crew’s officiating was not at par. “[The] crew did not have a very good game,” he wrote. It was the fumble ruling that dented Auburn’s hopes the worst. There are multiple camera angles doing the round on social media in defense of it being a TD. They show the ball was very much over the goal line, when CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson punched it out of Arnold’s hands. Had Ken Williamson ruled it a TD, Auburn would have had a whopping 17-0 lead. That’s how important this call was.

McAulay likened Ken Williamson’s suspension to that of a QB being permanently [benched], if he threw a damaging interception, regardless of his past records. However in the hyper competitive world of college football, where millions of dollars are usually on the line for each game, the margin for error is razor thin.