The SEC has faced increasing scrutiny over its officiating in recent weeks, with critics arguing that several controversial calls influenced game outcomes.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey defended the conference's officials during an appearance on SEC Network's "Paul Finebaum Show" on Monday, Nov. 9 — even calling out TV analysts who complain about the calls.
"I am highly disappointed in announcers and their criticism and they're wrong," Sankey said. "Some of the worst officials in America are those in the (announcer's) booth. We have officiating experts who I turned on a game on Saturday who were just flat wrong. And what that creates is this narrative that we've done
something wrong and that is unacceptable to me, and we have to address that."
"Some of the worst 'officials' in America are those in the announce booth."
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 9, 2026
"I am highly disappointed in the announcers."
Greg Sankey vehemently defends the SEC's officiating and details planned improvements: pic.twitter.com/eFCIQgWKzp
Sankey's comments come after yet another controversy among SEC officials, the most recent in Texas' 34-20 win over Missouri. Tigers athletic director Laird Veatch published an open letter to fans on Nov. 9 advocating for change in the transparency of the SEC's replay review protocols following several controversial rulings and officiating decisions in the Tigers' loss to Texas in Week 11.
Mizzou is asking the SEC to consider providing live audio or video from its replay booth.
Sankey, while appearing on Finebaum, said the SEC is not like other Power Four conferences — like the ACC, for example — that provide live audio or video from their replay booth because of how the SEC's replay center is constructed.
He added that the SEC has multiple voices interacting with a replay instead of a single voice because that's what the conference has found to be "most effective."
"We all want to attain perfection in the analysis, but our officiating program does really, really good work. Our officials do really, really good work," Sankey said. There's a debate now about why aren't we allowing access to audio in our replay room? We have never said no. We've just said, 'You have to make sure you do it right.'"
"We don't have the luxury of a Thursday night or a Friday night game where you can do one game at a time and everybody's eyes and voices and minds are on that one monitor. We play on Saturdays with, at times this year, seven games happening at once. So you have to figure out how to manage that process so you continue to have the right outcomes."
In Week 6, the SEC was criticized heavily for the officiating at the end of Georgia vs. Alabama in Tuscaloosa. A series of no-call penalties that would have gone against the Bulldogs — including a defensive pass interference penalty on Alabama's final drive of the game — along with a reversal of an interception by the Crimson Tide's defense became the biggest talking points between the conference's two best teams.
Also in Week 10, during the Georgia vs. Ole Miss matchup in Oxford, questionable penalties went against the Rebels, prompting fans to throw trash onto the field, which delayed the game for roughly five minutes and led the SEC to fine Ole Miss $250,000.
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Sankey's comments regarding the announcers across ESPN's family of networks were believed to be mostly directed at former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who commented on the officiating in the Texas-Missouri game while broadcasting the Oklahoma-Florida game, according to CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello.
Sankey referenced Murray as "someone who's announcing a game between Oklahoma and Florida going back to something that happened at noon that he's never called" to Finebaum without saying Murray or anyone on that broadcast crew's name specifically.
He said it was "unacceptable" for someone like Murray to publicly criticize officiating in a game he didn't work, especially without first contacting the conference office, or perhaps even Sankey himself, to ask a question about a call, or multiple calls.
"We'll take the responsibility, we'll take the heat, we'll work to continually improve," Sankey said. "We'll work on how do we provide more transparency and access to our replay system. We'll do that collectively so that we have the best in-class model."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Greg Sankey blasts announcers who criticize SEC officials, says they're 'flat-out wrong'
