SEC admits its officials took down from Lions
Confusing sequence came after grounding call on PSU
The Southeastern Conference admitted its officiating crew made an error during a secondquarter sequence in Penn State’s 28-20 win over Auburn Saturday night.
The SEC crew flagged Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford for intentional grounding after he threw a long pass well past any receiver on firstand-10. Clifford was not under pressure, and it appeared that Parker Washington cut his route short.
The penalty gave Penn State what should have been secondand-16 from its 28-yard line. On the next snap, Clifford completed a 5-yard pass to Jahan Dotson. It should have been third-and-11, but the SEC crew ruled on the field that it was fourth down.
Penn State’s Jordan Stout then hit a 58-yard punt, on what was third down.
The SEC office released a statement less than an hour after the game ended, saying the officials made a blunder.
“At 11:45 in the 2nd quarter, Penn State throws an incomplete pass that was judged to be Intentional Grounding,” the SEC
statement read. “The crew’s enforcement of the penalty erroneously set the down to 3rd; the correct down should have been 2nd.
“The replay booth was consulted to confirm the down prior to the punt. The replay booth had the down as 4th down as well. The error was discovered during the media timeout that followed the punt and by rule it could not be corrected at that time.”
Penn State coach James Franklin argued the ruling and asked the on-field officials for an explanation.
“I talked to all of them,” Franklin said. “They all agreed on the call and so did the replay (official). And I kept bringing them over and saying, ‘It’s not accurate.’ I don’t know what else I can tell you, but they all concurred.
“I don’t know what else I can do or what else I can say.”
WARREN’S LEAP » Penn State surprised Auburn and the sellout crowd when quarterback Sean Clifford lined up as a wide receiver and No. 3 tight end Tyler Warren lined up behind center in the shotgun in the third quarter.
The 6-6, 252-pound Warren, a former high school quarterback in
Virginia, took the snap on second-and-goal from the 2 and leaped over the pile for a touchdown and a 2110 Lions lead.
“He’s come here and put on weight,” Clifford said. “He’s become an extremely talented tight end. You can’t not use the guy. He’s so athletic. He’s fast. He’s strong. He can catch the ball. He can throw the ball, too.”
Warren lined up behind center again on second-and-2 in the fourth quarter and looked like he might throw, but Auburn tackled him for a 1-yard loss. Penn State scored on the next play on a 3-yard run by Noah Cain.
“Everybody likes the ones that work and the other ones, they stink,” Franklin said. “(Or) we’re trying to be too cute. We want to be diverse. We want to keep people on their heels.”
DOTSON PASSES » Wide receiver Jahan Dotson completed the first pass of his career, a 22-yard completion to Warren in the second quarter that set up a Penn State touchdown.
It was the first Penn State pass attempt by a non-quarterback since running back Saquon Barkley completed a 20-yard pass to tight end Mike Gesicki against Michigan State in 2017.
“It wasn’t one of the greatest passes of my career,” Dotson said. “I’ve had some better ones. But I was just happy to get the completion. I probably could have led him more.
“I saw a guy coming at me, so I just kind of threw
it up there. I saw he was wide open. Thank God he caught it.”
TIGHT ENDS INVOLVED » Penn State tight ends Brenton Strange, Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren combined for six catches for 130 yards and one touchdown against Auburn.
Strange caught four passes for 71 yards and a touchdown, a 2-yard lob from Clifford in the second quarter.
“I don’t want that to be a one-week on, one-week off thing,” Franklin said. “We have a really talented tight end group. We want to keep them involved.”