I sat down to watch an SEC football game in Nashville and a WWE Royal Rumble nearly broke out.
Very late in the first half of the No. 14 Florida’s 37-27 win over Vanderbilt, the Commodores punted the ball back to the Gators... and all hell subsequently broke loose. On the play, the Gators’ James Houston IV was called for targeting and ejected from the game.
Vandy head coach Derek Mason came out to check on his player, who was still on the ground, who was on the receiving end of the targeting and appeared to direct some words at the Florida bench. At that point, UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham started jawing back as did head coach Dan Mullen, who had to be physically restrained by an official and football staffers as, wisely or not, he appeared headed for an up close and personal confrontation with Mason.
Following a targeting call on the Gators, Florida's Dan Mullen and Vanderbilt's Derek Mason exchanged words. pic.twitter.com/ZhTimyBWdj
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) October 13, 2018
At that point, seemingly the entire Vandy bench headed out to protect their head coach, and the Florida bench started to do the same as well. Once order was restored, both teams were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Because he already had been flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty earlier in the game, the Gators’ Vosean Joseph was ejected as well, a development that didn’t sit well with the linebacker.
Vosean Joseph is not happy about being ejected either. pic.twitter.com/wP62pnNLLF
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 13, 2018
As for the game itself? Florida found itself in a bit of trouble as Vandy took a 21-13 lead into the halftime locker room. The Commodores were actually up 21-3 at one point before the Gators scored 10 points in the last 2½ minutes of the second quarter to significantly close the gap.
After scoring the lone touchdown in the third quarter, the Gators piled on 17 points in the fourth to secure the double-digit victory.