ESPN's take on Georgia's win against Florida leaves Tennessee Vols fans furious with the national sports media outlet
A couple of weeks ago, ESPN's Heather Dinich heavily criticized the Tennessee Vols for their wins against Alabama and Florida. "Even in its best win (against Alabama), Tennessee has shown vulnerabilities, particularly on offense and with turnovers and penalties against the Tide," wrote Dinich. "The Vols also needed overtime to beat an average-at-best Florida team." […]
A couple of weeks ago, ESPN's Heather Dinich heavily criticized the Tennessee Vols for their wins against Alabama and Florida.
"Even in its best win (against Alabama), Tennessee has shown vulnerabilities, particularly on offense and with turnovers and penalties against the Tide," wrote Dinich. "The Vols also needed overtime to beat an average-at-best Florida team."
ESPN's take on the Georgia Bulldogs' hard-fought 34-20 win against Florida on Saturday in Jacksonville — the game was tied at 20 in the fourth quarter despite the Gators being down to their third string quarterback — was much different than their take on Tennessee's win against Florida.
ESPN's David Hale suggested that while it would be easy to wonder what's wrong with Georgia after they needed a big fourth quarter to beat a wounded Florida team, he thinks the game was close only because the Bulldogs were "toying" with the Gators.
Seriously. He wrote that.
From ESPN: It would be easy enough to come away from Saturday's latest installment of the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party wondering what's wrong with Georgia. Certainly the offense has sputtered at times, and Carson Beck once again threw three picks, bringing his season tally to 11. The lackluster performance against Florida follows similar games against Kentucky and Mississippi State, along with a first half against Alabama so dismal it cost the Dawgs the game.
But the most logical explanation is Georgia wanted to toy with Billy Napier. With a little more than 4 minutes to play, Florida was tied with Georgia at 20, and Napier was poised to save his job. The Gators were riddled with injuries, losing QB DJ Lagway with a hamstring issue, and were forced to survive with a number of backups and a few of the guys working for the moving company who were packing up Napier's stuff in anticipation of a blowout loss. It wasn't always pretty. Still, Florida kept hanging around. But this is how Georgia rolls. It toys with teams, gives them a false sense of confidence, then sneaks up behind them and pulls their underwear up over their head.
So let me get this right. When Tennessee struggles early in games and then uses a big second half to win, it's a sign that there are "flaws" with the Vols.
But when Georgia has the same experience (against the same teams), it's because the Bulldogs are "toying" with their opponent and giving them a "false sense of confidence".
Tennessee beats Alabama and Florida = the Vols have flaws.
Georgia loses to Alabama and beats Florida = the Bulldogs like to toy with their opponents.
You can try to make it make sense, but you're probably wasting your time.
There's clearly a difference in how ESPN treats Georgia and how they treat Tennessee.
The Vols will get their chance to really upset ESPN in a couple of weeks when they travel to Athens for a huge showdown with the Bulldogs. If Tennessee can win that game, it will force ESPN to show the Vols some much-deserved respect.
