Ole Miss v Tennessee- crazy stuff
Vols fans threw debris on the field, including golf balls and bottles of mustard, after disagreeing with a spot given on a 4th down, causing a 20 min delay with 55 seconds to go. Classless Vols fans. Despite this, Tennessee gets the ball back and had a chance to win.
Their starting qb gets hurt so they have to put in Joe Milton for the last 2 plays. With 3 sec left and only about 20 yards away from a touchdown, Milton scrambles around and with no time left, runs out of bounds for 5 yards instead of throwing it up to give his guys a chance to win. Wow.
October 18th, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
What's crazy to me is that running for it wasn't even a bad choice! Milton was so hesitant about it that it had no chance of working. But watch again - he still made it inside the 10 yard line, there was *one* defender between him and the endzone, and lots of green space. Had he committed to the scramble (100% run effort, not the nonchalant jog to out of bounds that he did) and actually tried to get to the endzone, he very well could have made it.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:58 AM ^
Hooker's injury looked bad. He is probably out for quite a while.
And I can see it now---Tennessee fans will be calling for Harrison Bailey, not Joe Milton, to start next week. Alabama's defense is playing better. No matter who starts at QB for Tenn, it's going to be a tough one for them. I think if Milton starts, it will be an exercize in futility.
October 17th, 2021 at 12:42 AM ^
ESPN’s coverage of Kiffin’s return to Tennessee as Ole Miss coach highlights mob behavior of fans as Kiffin gets hit by golf ball, fans throw water bottles, UT band leaves stadium before game is over, and game is delayed for twenty minutes.
Joe Milton comes in to relieve Hendon Hooker after injury. Overthrows receiver in end zone and then attempts to run the ball from 20 yards out with 3 seconds left and falls short in comeback attempt.
Fittingly, this SEC Network production of ‘Saturday Night Night’ football overshadowed by ‘Turd Night’ behavior of Tennessee fans.
October 17th, 2021 at 12:46 AM ^
And the kicker: this was a big recruiting weekend for UT.
October 17th, 2021 at 12:48 AM ^
This catch should absolutely make the SC Top 10 tonight.
October 17th, 2021 at 12:55 AM ^
And then he threw his visor in the stands. Lol. He’ll enjoy this win.
October 17th, 2021 at 7:07 AM ^
That was a power move
October 17th, 2021 at 10:47 AM ^
Never respected the man until now
October 17th, 2021 at 12:58 AM ^
I saw this. Bizarre sequence of events. Some idiot threw a golf ball that nearly hit Lane Kiffin in the head as he was talking to a referee. Then, Tennessee's drunk fans started throwing anything and everything onto the field including beer cans, pizza boxes, a ton of water bottles, and even a bottle of mustard. The game was delayed by almost a half hour. Tennessee evacuated its band and its cheerleaders from its own field. They had to cover their heads as they were heading into the tunnel.
The reason Milton was in the game for the final three plays is that Tennessee's starting QB ran for a first down and then, instead of sliding, inexplicably lowered his head and took a hit as he was being tackled from behind. It looked like he suffered a left leg injury. Milton came in and had a nice completion to get to the Ole Miss 21. On the next play, he threw a high pass into the endzone that was just barely out of the receiver's reach. Then, on the final play of the game, Milton scrambled towards the sideline and, for some strange reason, decided to take off past the line of scrimmage despite having multiple defenders in his path instead of taking a shot at the endzone. Oh, and throughout the last two minutes, Ole Miss players were clearly faking injuries to disrupt Tennessee's offense (because of course they were, because Lane Kiffin).
It was possibly the strangest final two minutes of a football game that I've ever seen. The game ended up running over five hours and didn't end until around 12:30 AM local time.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:11 AM ^
Hey, Milton increased his yards per rush from 6.2 to 6.5...
October 17th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
That guy was reacting to the play in the 1st quarter when Ole Mss QB stood there like a statue on 4th & 2, Tennessee stripped it, scooped & scored from about 40 yards out. The call was overturned, & Tenn was given the ball at the 40 saying they had stopped the progress of the QB before the fumble. The QB never even moved from shotgun. He must have thought the play was dead. I probably would have the same look on my face if a gave a shit about either team. That was just the beginning of all the weird stuff.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:22 AM ^
Nearly all of my mom’s side of the family lives about an hour northeast of Knoxville. They are good people, but their UT fandom is something I choose not to discuss with them for reasons that are well described herein.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:25 AM ^
Although it was completely classless, but somebody brought a golf ball to a football game and then threw it from the stands and pegged Lane Kiffin on the field. How pumped would you be to make the shot? That person will be telling this story for the rest of their life.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:33 AM ^
Whoever threw it should try walking on as a QB at Tennessee. They are certainly more accurate than Joe Milton.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:27 AM ^
Well it was a bad spot. I’m not sure why it wasn’t overturned. Not a smart move by Milton on the final play, but I think the pass on the previous play was amazing and the WR has to go up and catch it. I could be wrong, because I only saw it once, but it seemed like the receiver could have caught it.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:46 AM ^
They looked short. The WR didn’t have the ball in his arm that was across the first down line. It was in his other arm.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:56 AM ^
It was not at all clear that he made the line to gain either live or from any of the angles available. Honestly, I thought he was six inches to a foot short; the ball was low against his stomach.
It really is inexcusable that among dozens and dozens of elite universities with high-stakes football programs, no engineering department has yet bothered to use existing technology to develop a simple ball-location system that can identify the physical position of the ball at all times, coordinated with video to identify spots at the moment the ballcarrier is down.
The response by the crowd to what they perceived to be a bad call was also inexcusable.
October 17th, 2021 at 6:55 AM ^
This has been discussed for many years now (decades at this point), but it is already very well know that the technology exists to accurately & reliably track the ball (with precision of inches) where ever it is on the field. However, the various leadership levels (of both college & NFL) do not seem inclined to implement it for various reasons (I speculate here, but likely some combination of wanting to keep the game moving, cost savings, letting the officials do their job, "tradition", etc.) Just consider two similar examples: 1) how long it took both levels to institute replay despite the technology existing for decades already in the 90s/2000s and 2) how many games still do not have dedicated goal-line pylon cameras despite them basically being cheap webcams.
The problem was never about finding a technical solution.
October 17th, 2021 at 7:51 AM ^
Who on God’s green earth is going to be making excuses for Tennessee fans?
October 17th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
Who brings golf balls and mustard bottles into a sports stadium?
October 17th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
They won't do it for the same reason baseball won't adopt the digital strike zone.
October 17th, 2021 at 2:15 AM ^
I thought the mark was bad. It should have been placed farther ahead of where it was spotted. The ref didn't say "confirmed" after the booth review. So he wasn't certain of the spot either.
The tv people kept showing the camera angle that was of no help. They kept showing it over and over. smh
October 17th, 2021 at 7:54 AM ^
On-field refs only say confirmed if the replay booth has visual proof that the call on the field was correct. They use ‘stands’ when the booth says ‘I dunno’.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:33 AM ^
Just got done working for the day and checked MGo, and……
although I didn’t watch this game, from what I gather from y’all…. this eclipses 2013 @ Penn State or M00N for stupidity?
October 17th, 2021 at 2:53 AM ^
I wanted Joe Milton to win it. And it was close. The next-to-last play, his pass was a really good one. But the receiver didn't much jump for it, and so it went off his fingertips. The last play . . . alas.
My best wishes to Joe Milton.
October 17th, 2021 at 3:19 AM ^
Call me crazy, but why did the refs allow that game to finish? They should’ve taken the players off the field and called the game for Ole Miss.
October 17th, 2021 at 6:19 AM ^
October 17th, 2021 at 9:56 AM ^
Thanks for the explanation. Surprising they don’t have the authority.
October 17th, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
So who exactly has that authority? The league commissioner? For the referees to not be able to make that call seems like a potential disaster waiting to happen.
October 17th, 2021 at 6:39 AM ^
Golf balls and mustard bottles now on the list of prohibited items.
October 17th, 2021 at 6:51 AM ^
Who brings their own mustard bottle to a football game???
October 17th, 2021 at 9:34 AM ^
you don't?
October 17th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^
I'm sure it was a flask disguised as a French's mustard bottle.
October 17th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
Look at Mr. Fancy Pants with his French’s mustard.
this is America and we use Plochman’s mustard.
October 17th, 2021 at 7:37 AM ^
Hey, man, when you have the chance to pad your rushing stats, you gotta take it.
October 17th, 2021 at 7:37 AM ^
Ouch..... poor Joe Milton... dang.
October 17th, 2021 at 8:02 AM ^
Kiffin calling them out for throwing brown liquids at him that he figured wasn't moonshine because they wouldn't waste moonshine on him was low-key a nice dig.
It was a close call but I think the refs got it right; he was sliding and hit just short. It's a tough break for UT. I'll refrain from dumping on Milton but much like the "Harbaugh needs to be replaced with <insert hot coach name>" takes, I've noticed a major drop in "Michigan really screwed up with Joe Milton".
October 17th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
Wait 2 weeks. If Michigan loses to MSU I am sure there will be a bunch of coaching search threads.
October 17th, 2021 at 10:20 PM ^
I like this new positive dean pelton.
October 17th, 2021 at 10:48 AM ^
Harbaugh can't beat OSU so let's throw the bag at a guy who can't even beat Iowa
October 17th, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
Nah, we'll simply poach Tucker!
October 17th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
Tucker to LSU or USC. If he's smart, he leaves before he becomes PJ Fleck. Those transfers aren't getting any younger.
October 17th, 2021 at 8:03 AM ^
Damn shame this was the game Walter Nolen decided to visit Tennessee. Tisk,tisk.
October 17th, 2021 at 9:47 AM ^
Are you just joking or did Nolen attend the game? I’ve never thought Tennessee was really in the running—I bet it will be A&M or Georgia or Alabama—but that shitshow last night in Knoxville should put a knife in Tennesse’s hopes.
October 17th, 2021 at 9:49 AM ^
Nolan goes to High school about 10 miles from Neyland Stadium. I think he has been to a couple of games.
October 17th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
Yup. He was there. As were a lot of other prospects.
October 17th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
October 17th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
I watched the highlights. Sure looked like that second to last play by Milton where he threw into the end zone wasn’t one of his trademark overthrows. I didn’t see a closer look but it sure looked like the ball was able to be caught.
That last play though…I definitely couldn’t have done any better but with the benefit of hindsight, chucking it up to the end zone to at least get the ball where it needs to be and giving your team a chance is probably what you should’ve done. You’re a good athlete Milton but I don’t think you’re that good of an athlete where you’re able to outrace half the Ole Miss defense to the end zone.
October 17th, 2021 at 8:36 AM ^
I feel bad for Milton. He has a phenomenal arm and seems like a good guy, but he is just not a good QB. You have to make good decisions to play QB and he does not. Now he's a backup again. That's a tough pill to swallow.