It didn't take long for Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, a national college football writer who continues to apparently hold a grudge against the Tennessee Vols for an unknown reason, to take a shot at Josh Heupel after UT's 29-16 loss to the Florida Gators. 

Heupel certainly shouldn't be absolved from criticism after the loss to Florida. Anytime a head coach loses a game where his team is favored, there are questions that have to be asked and answered. 

But the loss isn't what Forde focused on. 

Instead, Forde questioned Heupel's maturity (while insinuating that he's petulant, which is one of Forde's favorite words to use when describing Tennessee and its fan base) because of the final sequence of the game. 

In case you turned the game off before the final whistle, Heupel called timeout with around nine seconds to play in the game before Florida's fourth down play. 

Vols defensive lineman Omari Thomas hit Florida quarterback Graham Mertz on the ensuing play, which led to a brief fight that ended up leading to four suspensions (three Florida players and one Tennessee player). 

Here's the sequence: 

Florida-Tennessee is BACK pic.twitter.com/fe8wpG0dEf

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 17, 2023

Forde wrote that Heupel's timeout was likely a "sore loser" timeout. 

From SI.com: He (Heupel) said after the game that he was hoping “to try and push one into the end zone.” That was extremely unlikely since Florida had the ball for one more down, and pushing one into the end zone still wouldn’t alter the outcome of a two-score game. More likely, this was a sore loser timeout.

Heupel’s display of petulance set the stage for what happened next: Gators quarterback Graham Mertz went back to take a knee, stalling for a few seconds to run more clock; when he did kneel down, ending the play, Tennessee lineman Omari Thomas decked him with a late hit and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That instigated a near brawl, with a Gator and a Vol squaring off like they were in the Octagon. It could have gotten much worse.

Forde has written some incredibly silly things on the internet, but this take has truly exposed him as a man with an agenda. 

Because not only is he embellishing what actually happened at the end of the game, he's leaving out key facts that don't fit his narrative. 

For starters, Thomas didn't "deck" Mertz. If you watch the play, as soon as Mertz finally starts to take a knee, Thomas tried to miss him. He really didn't even hit him with the full weight of his shoulder. Mertz flopped a bit (to be fair, any quarterback in that situation likely reacts the same way) and then Florida started trying to fight Tennessee players. 

If the Gators would've just taken a knee in that situation, as they told Tennessee players on the field they were, then the whole bizarre end of game situation never happens (regardless of Heupel's timeout). 

Speaking of taking a knee, let's back up just a bit to what happened before Heupel called timeout. 

On second-and-14 with 1:02 remaining in the game, Florida snapped the ball and handed it off for no gain. 

Gators head coach Billy Napier then let the play clock run almost all the way to 0 before calling a timeout. That left Florida with just one timeout. 

At this point, it's third-and-14 with 14 seconds left to play in the game. The clock is stopped because Florida used its second timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty. 

Napier then lets the 25 second play clock run almost all the way to zero before using his final timeout instead of running on the field and taking a knee on third-and-14. 

So instead of just taking a knee and going home (Tennessee would've got the ball back with a few seconds left in the game, but as Forde noted, there wasn't enough time for two scores), Napier extended the game twice by using his final two timeouts. The second of which was completely unnecessary. If someone wants to suggest that Napier was trying to extend the game to relish in his team's upset win against the Vols, I wouldn't argue against it. That appears to be exactly what was happening. 

So when Heupel responded by using his final timeout before Florida's fourth down play, it's understandable if he did it while feeling annoyed at the way Napier handled the end of the game. 

But Forde ignored every bit of that. And instead, he questioned Heupel's maturity and put the blame for the situation entirely on Tennessee when clearly there was blame on both sides (remember, three Florida players were suspended and only one Tennessee player). 

The truth is that the end of the game really shouldn't be a big deal for either team. We see stuff like this all the time in rivalry games (pre and post game). It's just a bunch of passionate players on the field that are all feeling different kinds of emotions at the end of a tough game. That's all it is.

Forde just saw an opportunity to take a shot at Heupel and the Vols and he took it, just like he always does. 

Tennessee Football made an inexcusable mistake against Florida

The Tennessee Vols football program made an inexcusable mistake against the Florida Gators

Featured image via Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports