Kentucky head coach Will Stein is complaining that one of Tennessee’s biggest plays in Vols’ win over the Wildcats should not have counted
Kentucky head coach Will Stein isn’t happy about one of Tennessee’s biggest plays in Vols’ win over the Wildcats.
Kentucky head coach Will Stein doesn’t think one of Tennessee’s biggest plays in the Vols’ 34-6 win over the Wildcats should have counted.
Stein said after the game on Saturday that he thinks Vols defensive back Qua Moss was offsides on the strip sack fumble that gave Tennessee the ball back with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter (UT led 13-6 at the time).
“We thought he was offsides — the star No. 6 — before we snapped the ball,” said Stein. “I mean, I saw the look on the iPad and his helmet was over the line of scrimmage.”
It was definitely close, but ESPN’s Greg McElroy said he sees it differently than Stein.
“The knockout [came with] 30 seconds left in the third quarter,” said McElroy while reviewing this past weekend’s college football action. “It was 13-6 at the time. It’s third-and-eight at midfield, and it was Qua Moss that came free off the edge. He sacked Kenny Minchey and forced the fumble. It was Mariyon Dye who recovered it and returned it 11 yards to the Kentucky 36. Now, people were saying, ‘Well, Moss maybe got a little bit of an early start.’ I didn’t see it that way.“
It’s tough to tell for sure without seeing the view directly down the line of scrimmage as the overhead view has an angle that can be a bit misleading.
Interestingly, Tennessee was on the other side of a similar play against South Carolina a couple of weeks ago.
Some folks thought South Carolina was lined up in the neutral zone before the Vols’ botched fourth down play that gave the Gamecocks life late in the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, the officials didn’t blow the whistle on either play, so it doesn’t really matter what Stein, fans or the media thinks. The result was the result.
