Philip Harden has called his last Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game. He has no choice. The league permanently suspended Harden starting with the 2009 season after he blew what should've been the go-ahead touchdown for Tuskegee in last month's Turkey Day Classic between the Division II Tigers and Division I rival Alabama State. Tuskegee quarterback Jacary Atkinson threw what appeared to be a touchdown pass to receiver Jonathan Lessa in the waning seconds. Harden, the back judge, ruled Lessa out of bounds and after consulting with field judge Vincent Swift, confirmed the original call. Video, however, showed Lessa was inbounds and in possession of the ball. Alabama State won 17-13, Tuskegee's 26-game winning streak was snapped and its chances of repeating as black college national champs took a major hit.

The SIAC folks didn't take too kindly to the foul-up, kicking Harden to the curb and issuing an apology to Tuskegee. Moses Norman, the league's supervisor of football officials, said in a statement: "My conclusion is that the ruling by the back judge was in error because visual evidence available to me contradicts his explanation regarding the player being out-of-bounds when he secured possession of the football. Thus, the play should have resulted in a touchdown for Tuskegee. Certainly, this was a game-changing ruling by the back judge." SIAC Interim Commissioner George Mategakis was blunt: "We expect complete honesty from our officials at all times. Anything else is simply unacceptable. Our supervisor of football officials, Dr. Norman spends a considerable amount of time making sure our officials approach each game with the utmost importance and significance. To miss a call like this will not be tolerated. The balance and result of a sporting contest should not be decided by officials, instead it should be decided by the players."

No one said officiating was easy, and no one suggests Harden intentionally robbed Tuskegee, but black college football has struggled with complaints like this in recent years. While there are many good officials, Harden is the latest to be made an example of for messing up a crucial call. "We have very high expectations of all our officials and we expect them to call a fair game every time they step on to the field," Mategakis said. "We in no way expect or think that our teams should win every single game they play when facing out of conference competition, but we certainly expect a fair and just approach every single time."