Sports Illustrated is critical of aspect of ESPN's Tennessee vs Ohio State broadcast that drove Vols fans mad
The ESPN/ABC broadcast of the Tennessee Vols' loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff had plenty of flaws. One misstep, however, that drove Vols fans mad came early in the second quarter when Tennessee defensive back Will Brooks picked off a pass from Ohio State quarterback Will […]
The ESPN/ABC broadcast of the Tennessee Vols' loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff had plenty of flaws.
One misstep, however, that drove Vols fans mad came early in the second quarter when Tennessee defensive back Will Brooks picked off a pass from Ohio State quarterback Will Howard.
Brooks made the interception on a pass that was deflected while barely getting a foot down in the back of the end zone.
The play was reviewed and eventually upheld.
While the officials were reviewing the play, ESPN rules analyst Bill LeMonnier cluttered up the broadcast by saying he thought the pass should be ruled incomplete because Brooks didn't have "firm control".
Sports Illustrated's Jimmy Traina took LeMonnier to task for his comment about "firm control" (which isn't a thing) while also questioning what the rules analyst added to the broadcast.
From SI.com: For some reason, Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit called on rules analyst Bill LeMonnier to weigh in. Why? What rule was he coming on to explain? What inside rule info did he have for the viewers? The answers, of course, are he wasn’t explaining any rule and he didn’t have any inside info.
He was brought on to tell us what he saw. Not helpful and not needed. Just clutters the broadcast.
To make matters even worse, LeMonnier invented a new phrase and rule by saying that Brooks didn’t have “firm control.” I thought you just had to have control. I wasn’t aware you needed “firm control.” Whatever that is. So LeMonnier was calling for the play to be overturned even though the replays clearly showed that LeMonnier made the catch.
The chef’s kiss was that replay held up the original call of an interception.
So, to recap. LeMonnier was brought onto the broadcast for no reason. Said the original call of an interception was wrong. Said the player didn’t have firm control, which isn’t a thing. And then was wrong a second time when replay upheld the interception.
LeMonnier also said at one point during the review that he thought defensive pass interference should've been called against Tennessee (which would've nullified the interception).
Basically, it sounded like LeMonnier really didn't want that interception to stand for Tennessee.
Ultimately, the play turned out to be inconsequential to the final result of the game as Ohio State cruised to a 25 point win. But that didn't make Vols fans any less annoyed by LeMonnier's strange and incorrect analysis during the broadcast.
Paul Finebaum takes an unfair and unnecessary shot at Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava
Rough night for the Vols
