Sam Pittman talks bad calls, SEC officiating, and the flop epidemic

Arkansas got off to a fast start to the season, beginning the year with four consecutive wins, including victories over Texas (then No. 15) and Texas A&M (then No. 7). The Razorbacks lost their next three games, but won last week to reach 5-3 on the season. But Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman had a lot to say about SEC officials, bad calls, and the issue of flopping that is plaguing college football.

Pittman joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday, where he gave his honest thoughts on officials right now. He said that coaches just want things to be consistently called both ways.

“I think it’s difficult,” Pittman said of dealing with bad officiating. “All we want is to be equal. Whatever that call is, is the same on the other side. It’s difficult and I think we all see things differently. We say if it’s a pass interference it’s not. And if it is it’s on somebody else. I get all those things but it’s difficult. I’ve got a pretty good demeanor but also I get frustrated like every other coach does.”

Pittman: ‘We might have too much on officials’

While Pittman went on to say that there are multiple rule changes that need to happen, he also admitted that there simply might be too much on the shoulders of officials in today’s game. Officials are looking for every little thing, and Pittman believes that’s part of the issue.

“I don’t really know the answer there,” Pittman said of whether or not there’s a better way than the current system. “Communication is a big deal from officials to us and I think that works both ways. I think there’s got to be some sort of rule changes for the flops and certainly the targeting calls. I think we’ll address that. We might have too much on officials. They’re looking for every single thing and maybe that’s part of the problem.”

This season, “flopping” has been talked about a lot. Speculation about players faking injuries in order to get a stoppage in play has been spread around the college football world throughout the year.

“I don’t think you can as an official,” Pittman said of whether you can truly tell if a player is flopping or truly hurt. “I think we take that totally off of them. That’s unfair to ask them if he’s hurt or if he’s not hurt. It’s a coaching issue. It’s a non-penalized flop as long as there’s not a penalty. Maybe if you see something after a game and you suspend the coach or the player for doing that, then maybe it’ll stop. But right now you’re seeing 20 flops a game. I don’t want to get too deep into it because I don’t know that all of them came back healthy and I’m certainly not a medical doctor, but it has to be addressed.”

Arkansas is on bye in Week 9 but will return to action next week against Mississippi State.