Josh Pate's Take

[DonDiego]

For what it's worth. He covers the Vol Bama game starting around 19:38 and touches on the officiating around 25:39. If there are copywrite issues or anything, just shut her down if you don't mind mods.

I couldn't get it to link, but I think copy and paste works.

 

[supersmo18]

Re: the officiating, he said what I felt like after that game.

It is what it is, but the bigger story is that we got rawdogged in the 2nd half. 27 unanswered points. That's got to change, and if it had've, then maybe--just maybe--we'd have had a slightly different outcome. Who knows? I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

On to UK.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

For what it's worth. He covers the Vol Bama game starting around 19:38 and touches on the officiating around 25:39. If there are copywrite issues or anything, just shut her down if you don't mind mods.

I couldn't get it to link, but I think copy and paste works.

His data that Bama gets penalized a lot just helps to prove that Saturday's officiating was a farce and blatantly in favor of Bama.

They get flagged a lot because they cheat a lot. Bama didnt just amazingly clean up their act on Saturday.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

Re: the officiating, he said what I felt like after that game.

It is what it is, but the bigger story is that we got rawdogged in the 2nd half. 27 unanswered points. That's got to change, and if it had've, then maybe--just maybe--we'd have had a slightly different outcome. Who knows? I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

On to UK.

Big passes for Jalen were easier to hit in the 2nd half once Bamas oline became aware holding wouldnt be called and they could finally keep the pressure off of theor qb.

 

[supersmo18]

Big passes for Jalen were easier to hit in the 2nd half once Bamas oline became aware holding wouldnt be called and they could finally keep the pressure off of theor qb.

Agree, and we should've been more aggressive ourselves. Our gameplan was way too conservative in the 2nd half. The holding that wasn't called isn't the whole reason we lost. Not even close.

 

[Emperor VOLpatine]

Officiating was a big part of 27 unanswered though. They let them throw a TD on an obvious hold then tanked our next drive by spotting a (not) fair catch at the 4 yard line ignoring the touch back rule. We have to recover from that yes but refs handing them 2 scores to open the half and bringing the crowd into the game makes a huge difference

 

[GAVol]

Re: the officiating, he said what I felt like after that game.

It is what it is, but the bigger story is that we got rawdogged in the 2nd half. 27 unanswered points. That's got to change, and if it had've, then maybe--just maybe--we'd have had a slightly different outcome. Who knows? I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

On to UK.

It's true. If we go down the field and just kick 3 FGs in the 2nd half, we probably keep their offense off the field long enough to win the game. That sequence where they ignored holding and then pinned us on that bizarre fair catch really killed us though.

 

[GulfCoasterVol]

Well... he is bald.

 

[Voltopia]

Whatever. Pate has been dismissive of Tennessee all year, so of course he dismissed this too. Last year he couldn't get enough of us, but now that we're not the hot thing he more or less just laughed us off for the first four games this year. It got a little better after South Carolina but he's got nothing to say about us, except to say we aren't good.

And that "I'm not here to talk about officiating" nonsense is crap. It's more or less saying "shut up and take it," which is EXACTLY how situations like the bias at Alabama happen in the first place. When everyone around the game refuses to acknowledge and demand accountability from officiating, the officiating is free to be as bad or as biased as it wants to be. And all these flapping heads have to say is "shut up and take it." As long as they get paid, they couldn't care less. Alabama is big money. So shut up and take it.

Of course, what's even better is when these same pundits go out of their way to criticize Tennessee's players for not making plays. I'm not even saying the officiating is the reason Tennessee lost - that's not it. But the "sports media" is just as much a reason why Alabama gets Alabama treatment, as the SEC itself is.

 

[fossilfiction]

Refs suck. That's known.
What sucked more was the 4th down conversation rate, the missed red zone points, the terrible fumble 6, the well short of the marker check downs in two-minute mode, legitimate silly procedural penalities, and the lack of any pulse at all for the entire second half. The refs be damned, Tennessee didn't come out of the locker room to start the second half for some reason.

 

[VolInDayton]

It's true. If we go down the field and just kick 3 FGs in the 2nd half, we probably keep their offense off the field long enough to win the game. That sequence where they ignored holding and then pinned us on that bizarre fair catch really killed us though.

Those calls combined with us not being able to run the ball killed our momentum. This team doesn't know how to get momentum back, although they took a step with how they ended the first half. Heupel tries to coach to get momentum back by going for it on 4th down but it's just been putting us in a bigger hole this year.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

He somewhat acknowledged it (because you kind of have to since it was so glaring) and then immediately dismissed it. The argument of "just play better and it won't matter" doesn't hold much water with the number of no-calls along the line of scrimmage. Kind of difficult to "try harder" when a guy has you in a choke hold. Any ideas how to scheme around that? He's right though about the sending of the complaints in to the SEC office. They'll probably even say "oh you're right, sorry about that" and then go right back to how the games are called with no repercussions.

 

[RockyTop140]

Those calls combined with us not being able to run the ball killed our momentum. This team doesn't know how to get momentum back, although they took a step with how they ended the first half. Heupel tries to coach to get momentum back by going for it on 4th down but it's just been putting us in a bigger hole this year.

This isn’t the offense of last year. I don’t know why we’re going for it so often when it’s obvious we aren’t as good on the offensive d side of the ball. Especially when Jackson Ross has done a fantastic job so far. Punt them deep and make their lives harder.

 

[aRmo]

Whatever. Pate has been dismissive of Tennessee all year, so of course he dismissed this too. Last year he couldn't get enough of us, but now that we're not the hot thing he more or less just laughed us off for the first four games this year. It got a little better after South Carolina but he's got nothing to say about us, except to say we aren't good.

And that "I'm not here to talk about officiating" nonsense is crap. It's more or less saying "shut up and take it," which is EXACTLY how situations like the bias at Alabama happen in the first place. When everyone around the game refuses to acknowledge and demand accountability from officiating, the officiating is free to be as bad or as biased as it wants to be. And all these flapping heads have to say is "shut up and take it." As long as they get paid, they couldn't care less. Alabama is big money. So shut up and take it.

Of course, what's even better is when these same pundits go out of their way to criticize Tennessee's players for not making plays. I'm not even saying the officiating is the reason Tennessee lost - that's not it. But the "sports media" is just as much a reason why Alabama gets Alabama treatment, as the SEC itself is.

You cant hate on JP. He is there to get clicks for 247. Officiating is an issue in all of college football. Seems a bigger issue with Alabama. The refs stole some momentum away early in the 2nd half by botching calls. But CJH didnt help with the play calling/coaching in the 2nd half. He has to be better.

 

[VOLSBEERS1992]

Re: the officiating, he said what I felt like after that game.

It is what it is, but the bigger story is that we got rawdogged in the 2nd half. 27 unanswered points. That's got to change, and if it had've, then maybe--just maybe--we'd have had a slightly different outcome. Who knows? I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

On to UK.

This is the most tired BS ever. "27 unanswered", " play better in the second half" blah blah blah.

Officiating played a key role the 27 unanswered points. Acting like them scoring 27 points and the officiating are two totally independent unrelated things makes zero sense. When their OT gets beat by our DE, they are allowed to tackle us by the neck and throw a TD instead of taking a sack, sack fumble, or penalty. When our OT gets beat, we don't get to tackle people because it gets called. It results in things like sack fumbles for TD's for them. Its absurd.

Our TE gets grabbed running his route by their LB in the endzone to prevent a score and we don't get the call. Thats a FG vs first and goal on the 3.

Our defense does their job and gets a stop but bama is given an additional possession essentially on a phantom hold on Gabe Juedy Lally where he barely even touched the guy and didn't slow his route at all. Yet they have been drapped all over us grabbing our receivers all game.

The one 5 yard penalty they did get, it was an early snap Milroe wasn't ready for and busted play. The ref blew it dead immediately and called a false start to give them 1st and 15 instead of what would have been like a 2nd and 13 so it benefited them.

Entire game was a hatchet job and they never come back in that game without officials completely taking over the game.

 

[DaddyChad]

Re: the officiating, he said what I felt like after that game.

It is what it is, but the bigger story is that we got rawdogged in the 2nd half. 27 unanswered points. That's got to change, and if it had've, then maybe--just maybe--we'd have had a slightly different outcome. Who knows? I mean, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

On to UK.

It’s hard to give everything on the line when you’re getting screwed routinely and you know you’re getting screwed routinely. The hold on the TD bomb is as bad a non call as I’ve seen in a major game; there is literally no way the ref didn’t see that.

 

[DonDiego]

I know a lot of people on here don't care for Tony Basilio, and I can't listen to that show, but I do try and read through his daily blog. He and his guy didn't have a bunch to say about the officiating until down toward the bottom of his column, he posts and responds to a couple of letters. I tend to agree more with his take than Pate's.

The Tony Basilio Show

TonyBasilio.com is the companion web site to The Tony Basilio Show. The show is broadcast live from Knoxville, TN, home of the Vols! On the website, you will find a variety of blogs by our show personalities. Check out our streaming audio and show archives at TonyBasilio.com. Want to chime...

tclub.team

 

[supersmo18]

It's true. If we go down the field and just kick 3 FGs in the 2nd half, we probably keep their offense off the field long enough to win the game. That sequence where they ignored holding and then pinned us on that bizarre fair catch really killed us though.

I agree. I'm blown away by the lack of holding calls, particularly the one they first scored on in the second half and nearly decapitated Baron, that was a game-changing no-call. We didn't respond aggressively enough and they had so much momentum after that TD that it was all uphill from there.

 

[supersmo18]

This is the most tired BS ever. "27 unanswered", " play better in the second half" blah blah blah.

Officiating played a key role the 27 unanswered points. Acting like them scoring 27 points and the officiating are two totally independent unrelated things makes zero sense. When their OT gets beat by our DE, they are allowed to tackle us by the neck and throw a TD instead of taking a sack, sack fumble, or penalty. When our OT gets beat, we don't get to tackle people because it gets called. It results in things like sack fumbles for TD's for them. Its absurd.

Our TE gets grabbed running his route by their LB in the endzone to prevent a score and we don't get the call. Thats a FG vs first and goal on the 3.

Our defense does their job and gets a stop but bama is given an additional possession essentially on a phantom hold on Gabe Juedy Lally where he barely even touched the guy and didn't slow his route at all. Yet they have been drapped all over us grabbing our receivers all game.

The one 5 yard penalty they did get, it was an early snap Milroe wasn't ready for and busted play. The ref blew it dead immediately and called a false start to give them 1st and 15 instead of what would have been like a 2nd and 13 so it benefited them.

Entire game was a hatchet job and they never come back in that game without officials completely taking over the game.

I mean, did you expect the game to be fairly called?

 

[supersmo18]

It’s hard to give everything on the line when you’re getting screwed routinely and you know you’re getting screwed routinely. The hold on the TD bomb is as bad a non call as I’ve seen in a major game; there is literally no way the ref didn’t see that.

That one is my biggest complaint, it was so egregious

 

[DaddyChad]

That one is my biggest complaint, it was so egregious

Hard to pick between that one and the “fair catch”. The bomb was definitely a bigger play for them. Both were very questionable plays.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

Pate is taking the uncontroversial "everyone complains about the refs - refs don't decide games" take, but in reality, this has been a problem for years with Bama and everyone in the SEC knows it. Even Lane Kiffin (who used to coach at Bama) has said this.

Pate mentions "evidence" but doesn't provide it. I'd be curious to see the stats on Bama penalties over the years, because I can near guarantee it's more lop-sided than any other SEC school. Everyone knows when you play Bama, you're also playing the refs. It's not just us --- LSU, A&M, Ole Miss, and Auburn have to deal with it too.

For crying out loud, they called a penalty on us for a 'fair catch' where a guy 30+ yards away from the ball moved his hands slightly below his hips, and they decided that was an 'invalid fair catch call'. How much more obvious can it get?

Someone noted earlier that the only penalty they called on Bama was a "snap infraction" where Bama snapped the ball before the QB expected it and it might've led to a fumble. So even the 1 penalty they called on Bama helped Bama.

Yes, most griping about officiating is just butt-hurt fans. It's true. That doesn't mean that officials are never biased or that certain actors aren't trying to push outcomes in a chosen direction. There are bad calls in all games, but the calls in Bama games seem to go beyond that. It's beyond ridiculous at this point. It's well known that the SEC officiating office favors Bama.

 

[Other_Guy]

It's not about "well they missed on both sides" it's when and what is called.
You make that choke hold call and Bama likely kicks a FG. Do that level of calls 4 or 5 times and it's a completely different game.

 

[Rocky Top T]

I like Heupel, but he got to make better coaching decisions. Like punt the Dang Ball

 

[volbound1700]

My fear is not that the refs favor Alabama (I really don't see that, in fact Alabama has gotten screwed a lot in the past), but that the refs consistently screw Tennessee.