Eric Boggs
Six years after the infamous 2019 Fiesta Bowl that robbed Ohio State of a rightful shot at a national championship, justice—though long overdue—has finally started to surface. Ken Williamson, the head referee from that College Football Playoff semifinal against Clemson, has been permanently suspended from officiating SEC games. And while the SEC didn’t cite that 2019 game as part of its decision, the news is vindication for every Buckeye fan who’s carried the sting of that night in Glendale.
According to Yellowhammer News, Williamson’s permanent suspension followed a staggering 11 complaints from Georgia’s 20-10 win over Auburn on October 11, nine of which were confirmed by the SEC as legitimate officiating errors. Among them were two game-altering blunders: a fumble at the goal line that clearly should have been ruled a touchdown for Auburn, and a bizarre sequence where Georgia’s Kirby Smart was awarded back a timeout after seemingly calling one—something even diehard Bulldog fans admitted was indefensible.
For Ohio State fans, none of this comes as a surprise. We’ve seen Williamson’s incompetence—or corruption—up close. The 2019 Fiesta Bowl was a masterclass in how officials can dictate the outcome of a game. First came the targeting call on Shaun Wade that wiped out a third-down sack and gave Clemson new life, setting up their first touchdown. Then, the infamous scoop-and-score by Jeff Okudah and Jordan Fuller—rightfully ruled a fumble and returned for six—was inexplicably overturned by replay. That single decision flipped momentum, erased a defensive masterpiece, and sent one of the most talented Ohio State teams in school history packing.
Sure, replay made the final ruling—but let’s not pretend Williamson and his crew were innocent bystanders. The head referee wears the headset, communicates with the booth, and has influence over how those reviews are interpreted. Back then, there was no transparency in replay. No public audio. No accountability. To this day, the conversations between Williamson’s crew and the replay officials during that Clemson game have never been released. What were they saying? Who influenced what? We’ll likely never know.
And yet, here we are years later, watching the SEC finally admit—through action if not words—that Williamson was a problem. If nine of eleven calls in a single game were confirmed as wrong, how many more did he botch—or manipulate—in his career?
Buckeye Nation was told back then that we were crazy, that we were sore losers, that we didn’t “know ball.” But Ohioans do know football. It’s our lifeblood. And anyone who watched that 2019 semifinal knew something wasn’t right. Now the evidence is on the record.
The suspension of Ken Williamson isn’t just punishment for one bad day in the SEC—it’s an indictment of years of questionable officiating that may have altered the course of college football history. Because when Ohio State was forced to watch LSU destroy Clemson in the national title game, every Buckeye fan knew the truth: it should’ve been the Scarlet and Gray on that field.
Whether Williamson was simply terrible at his job or something more sinister was going on behind the scenes, one thing is clear—he never should have been allowed near another college football field after that night in 2019. His permanent ban may not change history, but it confirms what we knew all along: Ohio State got robbed, and the man in stripes who helped pull it off has finally been caught.
Justice delayed is justice denied—but at least now, the record shows that Buckeye fans were right to be irate.
