Here’s what Steve Shaw had to say about the way last night’s Tennessee-Vanderbilt game wrapped up.
“On the last play of the Vanderbilt-Tennessee game, in overtime, the Tennessee defender intercepted the pass, his knee did not touch the ground and he returned the interception for a touchdown. During the play, the head linesman incorrectly ruled that the Tennessee player’s knee was down when he intercepted the pass by blowing his whistle and giving the dead ball signal. The play was reviewed as if there was no whistle on the field, and as a result, overturned the incorrect ruling. By rule, if there was a whistle blown, the play is not reviewable.”
Oops.
Any way you look at it, the end result wasn’t going to be aesthetically pleasing: either the officials got the call right and blew the rule, or upheld the rule and blew the call. I’d say common sense won out, but it sounds like James Franklin disagrees with me.
An incensed Vanderbilt coach James Franklin could be seen going after the officials when the game ended.
Once the season’s over, somebody’s going to have to put together a YouTube clip of Franklin’s greatest post-game moments.
Get The Picture 
James Franklin can smoke my bfc.
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Franklin and Corso can sing this duet.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?title=kneehigh-park–pt-2&videoId=11918
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They completely blew every single aspect of that call. When announcing the replay, not only did they say no whistle was blown or signal given (which can be heard loudly, and you can see the ref emphatically blowing the whistle and signaling him down) , but they ruled it a fumble. Given how screwed up it already was and Dooley’s curse when it comes to officiating, I thought for sure this would go in Vandy’s favor and a part of me really wanted to watch the Dooley presser afterwards, but they ultimately did the right thing.
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You hit the issue I have, is that the refs lied to cover up the fact that the whistle had been blown. I didn’t have a dog in the fight, but when an official lies about the facts of their actions, they should be dismissed. It’s a fraud and the people involved should be told their services are no longer needed. If Shaw wants to send a message to the officials, that’s what should happen in this case. If the other official told Curles he blew the play dead, Curles should lose his job. Hell, they all had to hear that whistle. They should all go.
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I still don’t know why they changed the policy they had a few years ago where the refs were supposed to swallow the whistle on anything even close and let the replay booth sort it out.
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It was changed partially due to the cluster that was the end of the LSU/UT game last year.
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I don’t like Franklin either but when are we going to get refs with integrity in the SEC. This is the third serious bruhaha caused by Mark Curles and his crew. And what about the culpability of the TV refs? Curles may say that the whistle did not blow and play continued but you can clearly see one of the officials in the backgrounD on replay, whistle in mout, waving his arms and placing his foot on the spot where he blew the play dead.
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Me too Chadwick, I can accept the ref mistaking the knee on the ground call (especially from the angle he viewed that play, but the lack of integrity is inexcusable. The SEC has to clean up the officiating problem.
And also, +100 on all who realize what a punk James Franklin is. I like tshe “diaper stain” label, he has brought Vandy to an all-time low in less than one year. Doesn’t he have to be teaching the players those cheap shots? Hard to believe multiple players can decide to go that rogue on their own. These aren’t instantaneous cheap shots, theses are actions they thought about before pulling the trigger. Several times more dangerous than a reactive punch thrown to a fully padded player so why aren’t they suspended/ejected. proportionately?
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Is it just me or does Franklin come off just as much of a thug as Kiffin? He’s always irate at the officials or the other team’s players/coaches. And he’s clearly coaching his team to play on the dirty side with the Georgia game being a great example.
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U r correct, sir! Grantham caught all the flack from the UGA/Vandy war of words. Franklin has showed his @ss twice since. He is an hot headed imbecile.
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Not only did Franklin bitch at the officials, he barely said a word to Dooley at the postgame “handshake” at midfield, and he ignored a number of Tennessee coaches/trainers who were trying to come talk to him as he stormed off in a huff. For all the talk about the tough new energy he’s brought to the Vandy program, the guy comes off as a petulant whiner in situations where things haven’t gone exactly his way, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Todd Grantham was hardly the only one showing his ass after the game in Nashville a few weeks back.
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Exactly.
I never thought I’d see the day where I sorta like the Vol’s coach, but I loathe Vandy’s. But, well, here we are.
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In addition to being a whiny gash, Franklin is a classless asshole. He wouldn’t shake a single hand last night. I hope Evil Richt resurfaces next year and we hang 50 on that diaper stain
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There was a poetic moment earlier in the game. Vanderbilt completed a long pass that was called back on a dirty clip by one of their o linemen. Instead of running their next play from the ut one, they were on their own ten.
Not sure if it was the same punk that got Kwame, but it really doesn’t make a difference. Either way it shows Franklin condones or teaches this crap.
I was kind of pulling for Vandy before that.
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I saw that too…turned into a 90 some odd yard penalty. The pass was waaaaay downfield when he cheaped him. The announcer even said they have had problems with that player doing that in the past so I’d bet it was the same guy that got Kwame. If so, I would hope the SEC yanks him for some time. Franklin looks like a more successful version of Muschamp.
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That punk white boy did the same thing the week after the UGA game when Vandy was playing- Army? Navy?- one of the service acadamies. In that game it was a helmet to the back of the knee 20 yards behind the play as the whistle was blown.
Remember Vandy apologizing for disrespecting their cadets after the game?
The Vandy people will quickly see this assclown coach as a stain on their reputations. Vandy graduates really are respectable people and they won’t sell their reputations for football.
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Ironic Justice
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He does come off bad, but Vandy was jobbed on that call.
UVA was also in a tight game against FSU and you should have seen how that one ended. The UVA coach was actually running his team into the locker room before the game was officially over. And those coaches are great friends.
It is a game of emotions.
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…while Jimbo Fisher laid facedown in the mud surprised by his own stupidity.
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For stupidity at a higher level, check out the last minute of the Oklahoma-Baylor game last night. Oklahoma had just tied the game, and they were headed to overtime. Baylor had the ball on their own 40 or so with less than a minute left and no timeouts. Stoops called a timeout after Baylor had a short gain (or maybe no gain) on first down – thinking Oklahoma might get the ball back with a few ticks on the clock. All that did was give Baylor and Griffin time to regroup, and the Bears burned ’em. It was beautiful to watch.
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I thought Stoops played it right.
It was pretty obvious that his team was going to lose in OT if you let RG3 start from the 25 yard line and force your team to go TD for TD. Stoops had earlier lined up to go for 2 on the last TD, and stayed in that formation even after Baylor had called a TO to regroup on the formation, but OK had to settle for an extra point because of a false start.
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Big Game Bob, indeed. That nickname is akin to calling a fat man “tiny”.
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Sometimes swapping coaches, aint all that. How is the team any different now than when Bobby was the coach?
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They got the call right.
SEC and Vandy needs to see James Franklin to an anger management school. Muschamp, Dooley, and Spurrier should be classmates. These guys spent less time bitching about officials and more about recruiting and coaching they would be better off.
But before you go to class Coach Franklin you need a course in coaching. You freaking dumbass coach. could you and your hot shot QB not see how the UT D corners and safety were playing. They already had one pic on you guys.
Call does not matter. Vandy got what they deserved for that kind of play. An INT to the house and another lose.
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I clearly hear a whislte: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn%3A7259065
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I discreetly congratulate the officiating crew. The got together, determined what really happened to a certainty, and collectively told a big white lie about the whistle to get the correct result of the play, if not the correct result from the rules.
Ponder what would have happened if they’d ruled the play dead and Tennessee had lost. I wouldn’t blame Derek Dooley for going postal.
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The end result was just — the kid should have been allowed to complete his pick-6 without ass-hats intervening with whistles and denials of whistles. That said, the officiating crew is not empowered to just tell ‘white lies’ as they see fit. The whole process breaks down entirely if there is not at least an appearance of integrity. Even in the absence of competence, which we have grown to expect, we have to be able to assume that the officials are not just blatently lying to us. Lack of competence coupled with a lack of integrity yields a Lord of the Flies outcome.
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Chicago, everything you say is true, which is why I said “discreeetly.” Next issue is how do you treat the guy with the incorrect whistle? Can’t give him too much grief, unless he’s a serial offender, because zebras are trained to go with and stand behind their snap judgments.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the officiating crew, in discussing the call, gave Franklin the rookie treatment. You know: “Hey ump he just threw at me! How bout a warning?” “Sure kid. Watch out you don’t get killed.”
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Yeah, I know you weren’t defending the lying. It was a regrettable situation all around. As for what you do with the incorrect whistle guy? If he didn’t own up to it I would fire him. Blowing the inadvertent whistle was unfortunate, but not owning up to it and allowing Curles to say the play was not blown dead is inexcusable. Of course, if he may have done just that Curles chose to willfully lie. Whatever the case, they somebody should go away for good.
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Can’t argue that Hogbody, getting it right is the main thing to me, and they did. But lying to the participants, the 85K in the crowd (chuckle), and a national TV audience is a problem. If your charge is to get the play call right, and make a judgement that he would have made it all the way, then just say that. Not having the balls to say you are doing this because it is right, and willing to take the consequences, is what was lacking. Bold face lies don’t give you much credibility.
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Could the Lexicon accept this as a “Vandeferred” call?
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F Franklin and his shitty team and program. That dirty POS got exactly what he deserves. I hope the bastard continues to get his. He and that dirty punk center whom I’d like to whack in the back of the head with a bball bat – DeNiro style.
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it’s hard to be the biggest asshole in the conference when you have colleagues like spurrier and saban. but i’ll be damned if franklin hasn’t snatched away the title. he thinks he’s raising vandy’s profile in the conference by being a prick? well, i for one welcome it: i’m tired of seeing uga sleepwalk against vandy every year, and if a petulant coach is what it takes to motivate our guys, i’m all for it. unleash hell. . . .
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You forgot to mention Bobby Petrino and David Muschamp. There BD, I did it for you.
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That HC of Vandy is really a HC (head case). He needs to take some pills for self control. He may end up killing an opposing player or coach.
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Tenn got a mea culpable from the officials re: LSU game in the past.
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mea culpable = mea culpa
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I was going to recommend it for the Lexicon until you “corrected” it Mea culpable is a perfectly good word for the officials.
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I was reminded of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” last night while watching the UT-Vandy game. The premise of the play is beware of righteous retribution. Not only did Franklin’s behavior once again expose him for the petulant child he is (please tell me you saw him standing on the field glowering at the officials as they reviewed the final play – as if to say, “Don’t you dare rule against me – don’t you know who I am!”), but Logan Stewart himself went down with a knee injury inflicted by one of his own fellow lineman. Somewhere Kwame Geathers is smiling.
Measure for measure, indeed.
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Sow the wind – reap the whirlwind
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Thought that only extended to farts.
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I will grant that Franklin appears to be a huge assclown, but I can’t fathom how most of the people here are defending what is obviously a blown call. The ref can clearly be seen and heard blowing the play dead. It doesn’t matter if the whistle shouldn’t have been blown in the first place. It was, and they have to honor that. It’s really just unbelievable to me.
That said, I’m not sure I can handle watching Dooley run onto the field, joyful smile and all, only to be forced back onto the sideline again. It’s so sad.
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I just tell you how many games a so called honest officials can actually affect in favor of another. This does not really bode well for the DAWGS especially if LSU reaches the Dome. LSU for some reason always get the favorable side on those borderline and obscene calls or violations.
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They blew it. Whistle blows = play over.
However, with three teams in line for BCS bowl bids, I would hope a few calls go our way this week. 🙂
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