SEC officials adjusting to hurry-up offense one crisp jog at a time

"It's a Democrat-Republican issue," Shaw said, declining to assign a political party to a style of play. "There are some Democrats and some Republicans and

The recent rise in popularity of up-tempo offense has caused referees to alter their operating procedure :: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

"It's a Democrat-Republican issue," Shaw said, declining to assign a political party to a style of play. "There are some Democrats and some Republicans and they're probably never going to change sides." (Maybe that makes Florida's Will Muschamp, who advocated for a slower pace until he hired coordinator Kurt Roper to run an up-tempo offense, the league's resident Libertarian.)

SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said he expects league referees to move at a crisp jog :: Dave Martin/AP

Shaw has no position on the rules governing up-tempo offenses. If Division I or the FBS conferences decide to form a competition committee, that body would likely look into the rules as currently constituted and discuss whether they need to be changed or simply called and administered differently. But there is no doubt that the high-octane offenses have taxed officials as much as they have taxed defenses. And just like the defenses, the officials keep developing new methods to manage them. Those methods start with a crisp jog.