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

1. Inadvertent whistle with Vols in wildcat on 1st and goal from the five-yard line

We wrote a whole post about this one. It was embarrassing. Down 14-7, Tennessee football had driven down to the Alabama five-yard line and made it 1st and goal two minutes into the second quarter. They did it despite the fact that Brian Maurer was injured and had to be replaced by Jarrett Guarantano earlier on that drive.

Guarantano then moved to receiver formation and the Vols had a trick play on. There was clearly a direct snap about to happen. But the refs then blew the whistle and were about to give the timeout signal. However, neither team called a timeout, so they re-spotted the Vols the ball on the five-yard line.

The whistle made no sense. Our only explanation is they assumed that somebody either on UT or Alabama called a timeout and then blew the whistle before realizing that nobody had called it. That wouldn’t be a big deal, but Jeremy Pruitt and Jim Chaney had Alabama’s defense completely off-guard with that wildcat play.

So the refs blowing the whistle by accident blew their chance at a trick play. Now, this is where the Vols self-destructed, as Darnell Wright then committed a false start and picked up a holding penalty. But that whistle was brutal. On that drive, after the penalties, UT Had to settle for a field goal and cut the score only to 14-10 instead of tying it up at 14.