USC AD Pat Haden goes on sidelines during game to confront officials

Published Sep. 6, 2014 6:35 p.m. ET

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The USC-Stanford game was nasty, and Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian got especially heated after receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for standing on the white part of the sideline while a play was in progress.

The call set off Sarkisian, who reached to the sky for help . . . athletic director Pat Haden, who was watching upstairs at Stanford Stadium.

"I got a text just to come down because Sark wanted to talk to me," Haden said. "He felt the penalty was unfair and the referee explained he had warned him, so that's why he got the penalty. It's been a really frustrating quarter with the penalties, believe me."

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Asked if he was happy with the response from the officials, Haden said: "Most athletic directors and coaches are never happy with the explanations they get, but we got an answer and we have to move on and have a good fourth quarter."

Here's video of Haden disagreeing with the officials during the game.

Whether Haden, a member of the College Football Playoff committee, should be arguing with officials is another question. No. 14 USC went on to beat No. 13 Stanford,13-10.