How in the world did the refs not make the right call here? On Saturday, the Tennessee Vols and Auburn Tigers are in a dogfight with a trip to the SEC title game on the line. As of this writing, Auburn took a 33-32 lead into halftime.
However, one of the main topics of conversation from the first 20 minutes of play was a questionable play from Tigers superstar Johni Broome. As you'll be able to see below, Broome fully extended his arm and connected with Jordan Gainey's face. This had flagrant 1 written all over it. However, despite going to review, the refs called a common foul. What?
Hands to the face. Jay Bilas said it was nothing but come on, this should have been a flagrant 1 pic.twitter.com/uN75BOjDue
— All For Tennessee (@allfortennessee) March 15, 2025
Johni Broome got away with a stiff-arm on Tennessee guard Jordan Gainey
Again, how was this missed? The refs were given multiple angles and there's no question that Broome made contact with Gainey in his face. Despite that, it was deemed that Broome didn't do anything out of the ordinary and no further punishment was going to be delivered.
With the greatest of respect for the team in stripes, we could not disagree with this decision more. Vols fans are livid on social media, making it quite clear they're pretty darn upset that Broome wasn't penalized for a move that would make star running back Derrick Henry proud.
In the first half alone, there were some questionable calls that didn't go in Tennessee's favor. Remember the last time these two teams faced off? Some absurd decisions from the officials late played a role in the Vols suffering a heartbreaking loss. We can only hope that's not going to be the case this time around.