Beyond the injuries to Alabama quarterbacks and the Crimson Tide’s overall dominance this season, the one storyline that continues to surface is Alabama and the officials, and whether the SEC and its officials are giving the team an unfair advantage.

LSU super fan James Carville received the most attention for the argument ahead of the Alabama-LSU game when he railed against the SEC office for its handling of the Devin White targeting suspension. But the issue came up again on Saturday against Mississippi State when a would-be fumble was not reviewed, and a Bulldogs’ touchdown was called back on a seemingly phantom penalty. There was a report after the game that calls in the game would be reviewed.

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum on his weekly appearance on WJOX offered his opinion on the controversy.

“When you go back a couple weeks and just follow the bouncing ball, from Devin White, to the reversal in the LSU game, to that, the conspiracy theorists are going to be out there and unfortunately, they have something to chew on,” he said. “Now, I always defend officials, and you guys know officials, and I don’t think any of them are doing anything other than just calling the plays.”

The next question he wondered was if any one thinks that, “people get together and says, ‘Oh, we have to help Alabama because they’re so unfortunate.’ Why would Alabama need help from anyone is my question?”

The issue probably won’t come up this week against The Citadel, but the Iron Bowl looms after that. But whatever concerns Alabama has, is largely because of the upgraded schedule recently that may have given pause to some, but otherwise revealed the strong defense.

Finebaum noted that Alabama historically “leaks a little gas in November,” somewhat because of the schedule, being LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn.

“When you think about what’s Alabama done defensively the last two weeks, but it doesn’t matter if they get a field goal, they’re probably still going to win,” Finebaum said.