On Tuesday, On3's Pete Nakos published an article highlighting the 10 worst officiating calls of the 2024 season. And somehow, the officiating disaster in November that altered the Tennessee Vols' 2024 season wasn't included.

In mid November, the Volunteers, which had just one loss at the time, traveled to Athens for a massive showdown against the Georgia Bulldogs. 

Tennessee got off to a hot start in the game, taking a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter, before Georgia settled in and eventually staged a first-half comeback. 

The game was tied at 17 at halftime. Tennessee was a bit shaken by the Bulldogs' 17-point second quarter, but the Vols were still very much in the game. 

Tennessee received the second half kickoff and quickly punted the ball back to Georgia after failing to get anything going offensively.

The Bulldogs' next possession completely changed the tone of the game. 

Tennessee's defense looked like it was on the verge of a three-and-out after appearing to force a third-and-nine situation. 

Georgia, however, was bailed out by a phantom face mask call that gave the Bulldogs a first down. 

What facemask?? pic.twitter.com/bko6zLSohu

— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) November 17, 2024

Later in the drive, Georgia was again bailed out by the officials after Tennessee was called for an illegal substitution penalty after it appeared that the Vols had forced a third-and-seven. 

The officials felt like Tennessee took too much time matching Georgia's substitution, so they called a penalty on the Vols because a UT player barely had a foot on the field when the Bulldogs snapped the ball (typically we see officials hold the snap longer). 

For everyone wondering or looking for more clarity on 12-man penalty called on Tennessee.

Here’s what I saw, and heard, as I was photographing that series from behind Heupel and official

Never heard of ‘3-second’ rule, but the ref told Heupel “gotta be faster than that” pic.twitter.com/LA3VaUbwze

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) November 18, 2024

The rule there is a bit ambiguous, but we see that type of play happen each week in college football. And rarely (if ever) is a penalty called against the defense. 

The exact same officiating crew, in fact, handled that same situation very differently earlier in the 2024 season. 

This is how the same officiating crew from Tennessee/Georgia handled a late substitution last month in Ole Miss/Oklahoma game. Rebels were forced to call a TO bc the official held the snap to allow Oklahoma to slowly run off the field. pic.twitter.com/ZlCNAsg9Op

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) November 17, 2024

Here's another example of how that's typically handled. 

In yesterday's Utah-USC game, every time USC's offense subbed, Utah made sure to counter by subbing their biggest D-linemen on and off the field to burn time off of the clock ? pic.twitter.com/QOFvO5LaH5

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 22, 2023

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart made some comments after the game that actually helped argue why Tennessee shouldn't have been penalized (though that wasn't his intent). 

Also, on that same drive, a Georgia player threw a punch at a Tennessee player that was completely missed by the officials. 

That single drive, which included three completely blown calls, changed how that game was played. 

I'm not saying Tennessee wins the game if the correct calls are made — that's an argument that's not worth having because there's no way to prove anything either way — but I'm sure Josh Heupel and his players would love to have the opportunity to get the ball back with the score tied at 17 midway through the third quarter instead of getting the ball back down seven with just three minutes to go in the third quarter. 

It was one of the worst officiating sequences of the 2024 season and the national media, for some bizarre reason, still refuses to acknowledge it. 

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Good sign for the Volunteers