ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

You knew some type of punishment was coming for Florida coach Urban Meyer.

Otherwise, SEC commissioner Mike Slive might as well have gathered up all those memos he sent out last week about publicly dissing officials and tossed them into the trash.

Slive decided on a fine, and not a suspension, for Meyer. And that's the right call. What Meyer said earlier this week on the SEC coaches teleconference wasn't exactly sinister. He just pointed out that an official missed a call after being asked a question about the play.

But it's the principle of the whole thing that's so important here.

To say anything about the officiating at that point after the SEC had made such a production about bringing down the hammer on coaches who criticize officials was going to put Slive in a position where he had to act -- especially with it being Florida. If you haven't noticed, the conspiracy theories about Alabama and Florida playing by a different set of rules are running rampant these days.

Maybe Meyer was testing Slive, wanting to make sure he got in the last word.

Maybe a guy making $4 million a year could give a you know what about a $30,000 fine.

And then maybe Meyer simply wasn't thinking he was crossing that proverbial line when he answered the question.

I'll let everybody make up their own minds.

But I do know this: I can't imagine too many more coaches in this league answering anything remotely involving the officials the rest of this season.

Then again, it is the SEC.

Nothing ever surprises you completely.

I take that back. I would be surprised to see Meyer and Tennessee's Lane Kiffin vacationing together this summer.