Josh Pate's Take

[AllVols]

His statement about bama not having the "refs being in their back pocket" tells me all I need to know about him being apart of problem and just trying to keep the majority of his listeners from popping thier tops. With attitudes like his, nothing will ever change. SEC gets to keep their pretty little bama babies safe from really having to compete in games and makes it that much easier for the "Rich to stay Rich". They get the top recruits coming in year after year, because bama finishes at the top just about every year, (Now with UGA as well). They are protected and as we can all see are going to win to save the SEC their top money maker and top spots in the championship games.


They need to get rid of these refs that show and have shown blatant favoritism towards certain teams and train new refs that are monitored to make sure they are not betting on the side, and basically have zero skin in the games.


Just my thoughts, and as some really smart guy said the other day somewhere on this board, “if you don’t agree don’t attack me, attack my ex-wife.” lol

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

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.

Getting flagged doesn't necessarily mean "cheating"

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

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.

Would it have mattered? The refs were looking for penalties to call? Or penalties not to call. It is easier to say be aggressive, but when receivers are being held and they call holding on blocks. It doesn't really matter.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

Getting flagged doesn't necessarily mean "cheating"

While accidents happen and some flag are thrown...penalties are assessed for the attempt to play outside the rules.

As data sugests Bama does that more than most of their opponents. My guess, and it is a guess, is that is because it is institutionalized at practice, knowing they will gain an unflagged advantage more often than not.

Thus making Saturday's 1 damn flag even more suspect.

 

[DaddyChad]

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

I think definitely in a vacuum punt is the right call. With the calls going the way they were, with the momentum going that way it’s possible he decided to gamble bc he didn’t know how many chances he was going to get to score.

I think sometimes Heupel does make some questionable calls in game but unlike some like say Jimbo at A&M he’s more concerned with putting his team in a position to win the game than doing the safe call.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

While accidents happen and some flag are thrown...penalties are assessed for the attempt to play outside the rules.

As data sugests Bama does that more than most of their opponents. My guess, and it is a guess, is that is because it is institutionalized at practice, knowing they will gain an unflagged advantage more often than not.

Thus making Saturday's 1 damn flag even more suspect.

I seriously doubt it is institutionalized in practice.
They recruit the best of the best. They're repeating sound fundamentals and precise execution in practice. The best players don't need to practice "cheating", although it is second nature to grab a guy illegally when he's beat you in the trenches. I do believe discreet holding techniques are taught to cover corners, but everyone does that. Not just Alabama

 

[Vol737]

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.

Very true. The No calls by the refs just exacerbated our lack of offense in the 2nd half. I’m not down on Heupel, but he’s got to figure out these play calls on 4th down. They were predictable and poorly executed.

 

[Other_Guy]

"One play can swing the momentum and change the game."
"Like 3-5 badly timed calls that really screw one particular team?"
"Nah bro, that's not a thing."

 

[DaddyChad]

Very true. The No calls by the refs just exacerbated our lack of offense in the 2nd half. I’m not down on Heupel, but he’s got to figure out these play calls on 4th down. They were predictable and poorly executed.

The play call up the middle sucked on fourth down. That said damn were limited this year esp without Bru. Squirrel is a nice down the field receiver but he’s about all you have. Rest of the wrs struggle to separate from coverage and when they do they drop the ball. It’s inexplicable why Thornton is on the field at this point. Bama had started to string out those outside running plays and option plays at that point. No idea what he saw or why he called that but this isn’t nearly as talented a team offensively this year

 

[adam.vol]

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.

“Just play better” sounds like acknowledgement that games are unfair, but you are expected to overcome it anyway, else you’re not good enough to beat a team that you outplayed.

 

[KeyVol14]

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

Yep and the no PI/hold calls when Mccastles and Squirrel were in the endzone.

 

[hUTch2002]

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.

I said the same thing after the A&M game. We need to adjust our style a little to suit our strengths. Last year we were very aggressive on 4th down but I also felt confident we would make the play last year. This year we’re more likely to not make the play so our default should be to punt and every now and then maybe we roll the dice.

 

[newyorkvol]

Score TD’s and not FG’s in the first half. Not have your linebackers check out in the second half. Those would help.

 

[DEFENDTHISHOUSE]

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

Especially when the exact same situation led to a Dee Williams punt return TD the previous week.

 

[Tennman]

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.

Bingo, I had forgotten that. The snap infraction is only if you move the ball and don't snap it. He did snap it, which makes the play live. Normally we are used to seeing the center not snapping when everyone else thought he would. Another blown call.

 

[VolArmy74]

The NBA ref who was fixing games was doing it via a couple of no calls and a couple of "judgement" calls each game. Those 3 or 4 calls or lack of calls, was swinging results. It doesn't take much to change the outcome of a game.

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

Straight from Pate's Pate.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Everyone acts like TN fans are complaining about the disparity of calls. that has nothing to do with it. It was more about the calls that were not made

 

[Adam Sandler]

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.

I’d love to pick apart those “stats” that he “has”

 

[VFFL@THE BEACH]

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.

Reminds me of the phantom whistle against us a few years ago..

 

[Ty4Vols]

Pate works for CBS and has a show that promotes gambling. He clearly said the play was Bama to win, TN to cover (but he wouldn'ttouch it), and take the under. At the time spread was 9.5 and over/under was 49. What he never mentions in his recap is that he missed on everything. But the line moved from 9.5 to 9 at kickoff and the over/under dropped to 49 to 46. He along with many others drove money to Vegas on Tennessee to cover and the under. The results were Bama covers and the over. Vegas cleans up.
If it needs to be any clearer then I can't help you. At the half the Vols are up 20-7. That sure looks like Vols to cover and under 49 are real strong possibilities.
CBS needs ratings to drive up ad revenue. The SEC needs 2 possible playoff teams to make more money and not risk being left out. The ad revenue increases the money available for the SEC TV contracts. A lot of fans watch the game but just as many eyes turn the game on for financial reasons so both the SEC and CBS will promote gambling to increase viewership. Who didn't get paid with the way that game played out? Ratings were up with no drop off in the second half. Vegas won on both the spread and over/under. SEC keeps 2 legitimate teams alive to possibly make the playoffs. So sure the Vols got screwed but there is no money gain in them winning. If it don't make dollars it don't make sense. It's just business.