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SEC Admits Refs Goofed in Florida/Tennessee Game

Old Coach said:
Gentlemen,
Understand, I'm a University of Tennessee graduate and follower of UT football since my 7th grade year (1963). I love my Vols and thouroughly enjoy victories over the Gators. BUT I hate to see an otherwise exciting game be marred by officiating errors. The clock not starting is a miscarrage of the rules. The personal foul call/non call is inexplicable. It certainly appeared that the official was looking directly at both players and from what we saw on replay the penalties should have been off setting. So what happened? Only the men involved can explain it.

I must also say that since my elementary school years I have also been a big fan of Alabama football. Joe Namath, Steve Sloan and the "Snake" along with UT's Dewey "Swamp Rat" Warren were some of the people I tried to emulate in the 60's when we played back yard football. Bear Bryant has always been the standard for college coaches in my mind and heart. It bothers to hear fellow Tide followers talk of UT, SEC and NCAA conspiracies. Those officials screwed up but they didn't complete the passes on UT's last drive nor did they kick the 50 yard fieldgoal.

I hate it that the game was marred by the controversy, but I'm about as willing to give the win back to Florida as they were willing to give the 2000 game back to us that they won on the infamous "no catch".

Old Coach
Click to expand...

I don't like to think of conspiracies and what not, but the blame for most of us having this attitude lies clearly at the feet of Phillip Fulmer. He has had so many questionable actions go unquestioned by the powers that be and yet his lies against the Tide have been given credibility by the NCAA and others. Few of us believe that we were completely innocent, but to be playing through sanctions and having to watch innocent kids be punished over lies emanating from Knoxville has pretty much left many of us with a lack of respect for anything that flies out of east Tennessee. If you need any evidence of the character of your coach look no farther than how it got his HC position in the first place. Johnny Majors may have some baggage, but I think he could tell you a few things about Fulmer.
 
Has anyone noticed the way the SEC is spinning this? They are putting all the emphasis on the mistake with the clock, making the call of the foul itself secondary.

The replay clearly shows the official watching as the two players mix it up for several yrds.

Let me stress this--the two players in question were the only two on-field players in the official's field of vision.

The UT player smacked the UF player's facemask. There was a beat. The official stared right at the two players and waited. Why didn't he immediately throw the flag on the UF player? Or why didn't he intercede, as many officials will, before something gets out of hand?

It can't be a matter of reaction time, because the instant the UF slapped back, there was a blur as the official threw the flag.

I can accept the clock error as a legitimate error. But the personal foul itself? No, something else is going on here.
 
I hear you ! Don't get ME started about how Fulmer got the job at Johnny Majors' expense. I was a Johnny Majors man. Yeah Johnny had some baggage but it wasn't around his waist. Fulmer's won-lost record at UT speaks for itself. Right now, he's the "Dean" of SEC coaches and has one of the best winning % in the nation since 1990, but still for the university to cast off Majors like it was done was underhanded. I definitely don't like what is happening to tarnish one of the greatest rivalries in college football. The Third Saturday in October used to be one that exhibited great football and mutual respect between the teams, coaches and fans. Johnny Majors understood that very well. Florida is a big game, but it doesn't hold the same status for me that Alabama holds.

As to this year's Florida game, it's a dead issue. Nothing will or can happen to rectify what happened. I assume the officials in question will have some action taken against them. The official that signaled TD 4 years ago hasn't worked a UT game since. He was a Vanderbilt graduate. Anything to be read from that? Probably not. Notre Dame has always been accused of getting the good calls from officials and in the early seventies I remember that some claimed the Bear intimidated the officials. I remember over hearing a conversation between some SEC coaches at a clinic in which one asked the other "Do the refs take of "The Bear" ?" The answer was "Damn right they do."

Anyway, all this back and forthing on the issue isn't going to change it. I just hope that the UT-Bama game in Knoxville this year is about two fine football teams going at it and not about the junk that has happened over the last few months.

Old Coach
 
No surprise at all. This series has a history of poor officiating. The refs blew call after call in the 2001 UT win (to UT's detriment, yet UT still won). I'll never forget the Vols sacking Rex Grossman before his arm began going forward and the ball fell behind him (so it was a lateral even had it been a pass, so the ball could still have been recovered). It was 2 horrible no-calls in the same play. Grossman had a 2nd fumble ruled a pass, and the commentators remarked about how obvious that it was a fumble.

Also, the UF receiver in 2000 did not have possession, but the ref ruled otherwise giving UF a win-clinching touchdown in the final seconds over UT. Such a bad call did not give UT a chance to overcome the bad call. Conversely in 2004, UT still had to drive the ball 28 yards with no timeouts and ready for a long field goal. At least UF in 2004 had a chance to overcome the bad call by playing good defense against a true freshman QB in a decidely tense moment of his career. UT still would have gotten the ball back albeit with less time and more ground to cover. Thus, it is conjecture whether UT would have scored a FG or touchdown even had the right call been made.

In the game Saturday night, a UT defensive end was tackled by a UF offensive lineman just before he got to the QB. So other calls, or a lack thereof, altered the outcome of the game.

Its a shame the call (the personal foul) came at a time so critical. However, most "bad" calls involve the issue of whether it happened or not. Here, there is no dispute that the UF player deserved a personal foul penalty. The issue is did the UT player deserve one as well. The answer is yes.

Considering though the history of poor officiating in this series at critical times, usually to UT's detriment, I shed no tears for Gator fans. Two wrongs do not make a right, but at worst, the slate is now even in this series for lousy calls that affected the game. UT got a break, but not necessarily a sure victory unlike UF in 2000. The Vols did traverse the field with a true freshman quarterback and hit a 50 yard field goal. Luck had nothing to do with that. Hopefully, the future UF/UT will be well called.
 
Jeez Jughead, we don't need a recap of supposed missed calls against Ucheat in the Gator series. Why is it so hard for you folks to understand that we're talking about the 2004 game and the horrible call that swung the outcome of the game? Turn on Sportscenter or mix in a newspaper. It's obvious to everyone in the free world that UF got blatantly jobbed, obvious to everyone except the vile nation, that is.

Crap, y'all are so myopic that I'm surprised that y'all aren't trying to convince us that Fillup isn't really fat.
 
utk was penalized only 2 times Saturday night, by the Sec officials, for 20 yards.
2 for 20

If understood the TV announcers right,
utk was not penalized at all in the game vs. UNLV, by SEC officials.

2 games, 20 yards
does that add to the smell.

It amazes me that so few Bama fans want to stay in the SEC.

T7
 
I saw a lot of "Home Cooking" this past weekend. The Home team seemed to benefit from some timely calls or non-calls.

I saw a Vandy player almost get his helmet pulled off with a face mask and no call. Vandy has a TD called back and a pass to the five called back for a hold call that was nowhere near the play.

Auburn-LSU missed extra point, flag flies and re-kick.

Let's not even discuss the UF-UT debacle. That was shameful.

I have seen some comments about the 2000 UT-UF game and the "no-catch" by Gafney. I saw the game and I could not say if it was or was not a catch. But I distinctly remember after that play I expected Fulmer to blow a gasket, but instead, he calmly takes off his head set and walks toward Spurrier. I couldn't believe it. Obviously, Fulmer didn't react as if it were a bad call.

Just my observation.
 
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