Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel drops officiating joke that every SEC fan can relate to
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel dropped a joke about officiating on Wednesday night during Vol Calls that every SEC football fan relate to. Heupel was asked during the Alumni Hall question of the week segment about what makes it so challenging to play on the road in the SEC. The fourth-year Tennessee head coach […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel dropped a joke about officiating on Wednesday night during Vol Calls that every SEC football fan relate to.
Heupel was asked during the Alumni Hall question of the week segment about what makes it so challenging to play on the road in the SEC.
The fourth-year Tennessee head coach quickly (and perhaps regrettably) made a joke about officiating to begin his answer.
"Man, it's because of the officiating on the road," said Heupel with a laugh. "Make sure the commissioner doesn't hear that. I'm kidding."
"God I hope not. I was joking," added Heupel when Vol Calls co-host Brent Hubbs mentioned that his officiating joke would "show up somewhere".
Heupel obviously wasn't criticizing SEC officiating — though there’s likely some truth in his comment when it comes to how he feels about some calls that have gone against Tennessee this season (and to be fair, the Vols have been on both sides of bad calls at times…it just feels like they're more often on the wrong side of a bad call).
Tennessee especially had a tough time with some questionable calls in their loss to Georgia in Athens earlier this month.
A very questionable facemask call combined with a 12-men-on-the-field penalty that's rarely called against the defense (in that particular situation) aided the Bulldogs' most important drive of Georgia's 31-17 win against Tennessee.
Heupel is far from the only SEC coach that has a legitimate gripe with the amateurish officiating this season.
South Carolina was potentially robbed of a win against LSU earlier this season because of an extremely questionable late hit call that erased a pick-six for the Gamecocks late in the fourth quarter in their loss to the Tigers.
A little over a month later, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said in his post-game interview with ESPN that the officials tried to "rob" the Bulldogs during UGA's win against the Texas Longhorns.
Smart was particularly upset about a defensive pass interference call against Texas where the flag was picked up after fans pelted the field with debris. The decision by the officials to pick up the flag (after a lengthy delay) allowed a Texas interception to stand. The SEC said in a statement after the game that "original evaluation and assessment of the penalty was not properly executed".
Texas A&M is another program that currently has a legit gripe with officiating, as it's now been 30 quarters since one of their opponents has been called for holding.
Aggies head coach Mike Elko was asked this week about the lack of holding calls against Texas A&M and he actually took the Josh Heupel approach with his answer.
Heupel answered a question about officiating in a similar way after Tennessee's loss to Georgia.
SEC officiating has been a problem all season. And it's kind of silly that SEC head coaches, out of fear of getting fined, have to stay silent about it. It's an issue that absolutely impacts game (if not the final outcome, it at least impacts, at times, whether or not a team covers the spread).
Joking or not, Heupel is right that officiating — especially on the road — is an obstacle teams have to overcome most weeks in the SEC.
