By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Birmingham, AL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Southwestern Athletic Conference has suspended the officials from the Oct. 12 game between Alabama A&M and Southern for failing to manage the closing seconds of regulation properly.
Each official was suspended one game.
Alabama A&M was clinging to a 17-14 lead in the final minute of regulation, but Southern had the ball at the A&M five. SU quarterback Dray Joseph threw the ball away with seven seconds left and an intentional grounding call first resulted in the officials calling for a 10-second runoff to end the game.
However, the officials later deemed that Southern could use its final timeout in place of the runoff. The Jaguars then tied the game with a 37-yard field goal to force overtime.
Southern went on to post a 20-17 victory in double overtime.
"This was an unusual end to a game," said Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner Duer Sharp in a statement. "After a thorough review, we have determined the officials fell short of the high standards in which SWAC contests should be officiated. We will continue to work with our coordinator of officials and game officials to make sure this situation does not occur again."
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/swac-officials-suspended