Tennessee football: Five worst calls refs made against Vols at Alabama

2. Daniel Bituli ejected for targeting penalty

Not sure what Daniel Bituli could have done here. Sure, he appeared to lead with his helmet. But a closer look shows there was no helmet-to-helmet, as he appeared to hit Jerry Jeudy in the back. And you have to wonder how the officials were able to overturn that upon review. It made absolutely no sense.

Anyway, after that field goal, Alabama drove into Tennessee football territory. A Tua Tagovailoa pass to Jeudy got the Tide to the one-yard line. As he was going down, Bituli inadvisably came in late and landed a hit on Jeudy. He was hit for a personal foul, But there was no targeting penalty on the field.

It took a review, and that’s where the ejection came. The ejection made absolutely no sense. Seriously. Upon review, it looked even less likely that he hit Jeudy in a helmet-to-helmet play. Here is a look at the penalty.

Now, this isn’t the worst call the officials made. And the Tide would have scored a touchdown on this drive anyway. But to eject Bituli because of a move like that was ridiculous, and it was devastating for a UT defense whose other starter at the time was suspended for that half due to his own targeting penalty from last week.

As a result, this has to be on our list of one of the worst calls made by the officials in the game. Fortunately for Rocky Top, it came in the first half, so Bituli won’t be suspended next week. But it was still excessive.