I’m talking about the referees, their decisions, and the TV announcers, who consistently favored the Bulldogs.
Those decisions stained college football’s reputation, and the TV announcers’ giddiness was appalling. An example on the referee side is when Jaylen Wright broke free from the pile and turned upfield. A referee blew the whistle, intentionally hindering forward progress. An example on the announcing side is when an announcer showed preference when the ball was moved back after Tennessee appeared to gain more yardage.
The odds were stacked against the Volunteers, and this behavior needs to be addressed. Ultimately, I think it kept Tennessee out of the SEC Championship Game. After all, Tennessee beat Alabama and LSU, and at 10-2, had a better record than LSU at 9-3.
But let’s face it: there is a football hierarchy, and Tennessee and its athletic team were undermined by people exhibiting gross prejudice. And what surprises me is that more fans aren’t expressing outrage about it. How could only a few have noticed this blatant prejudice, especially in front of 90,000-plus people and maybe a million people watching TV?
