Last night’s overtime game between Vanderbilt and Tennessee, which was ultimately won by the Vols 27-21, was not without an officiating controversy.
I mean, Derek Dooley was involved for goodness sake. Could we expect anything less?
But Dooley came out on the right side of an official review last night in overtime. The problem was it was never supposed to have happened. In the first overtime, Vandy quarterback Jordan Rodgers threw an interception to Vols DB Eric Gordon, who ran the ball 90 yards back for a touchdown.
Drowned out in the massive cheers of Neyland Stadium, though, were the whistles from officials ruling that Gordon’s knee was down just after making the interception. An official review showed that Gordon’s knee was never down and the play was reversed. Tennessee wins.
Here’s the issue: it was a dead ball because of the whistle. Those can’t be reviewed and the SEC admitted that after the game. Now, the interception was still good, and Tennessee would have had the ball on the 25-yard line per overtime rules anyway. But, you can’t just assume the Vols would have sealed the win on their first offensive possession.
Anyone watching the game saw how upset Vandy coach James Franklin was. Judging by the look on his face, every puppy within a 10-mile radius was in danger of being punted. Upon shaking hands with Franklin after the game, we can only assume Dooley said “welcome to my hell.”