http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20091026/SPORTS04/910260317/1009KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin said he chose not to run another play before the Volunteers attempted a potential game-winning field goal against Alabama in part because of the penalty disparity between the two teams.
Terrence Cody blocked a low kick by Daniel Lincoln on a 44-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the game to preserve the Crimson Tide's 12-10 win over the Vols on Saturday. The narrow win dropped Alabama (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) from the top spot in The Associated Press poll to No. 2.
Kiffin began milking the clock with about 35 seconds left, and Jonathan Crompton grounded the ball with 4 seconds to set up the attempt.
"You run another play and you throw an interception or they throw another flag on us -- I wasn't going to let the refs lose the game for us there and some magical flag appear," Kiffin said Sunday.
Tennessee (3-4, 1-3), which entered the game as one of the least-penalized teams in the nation, was flagged eight times for 68 yards, while Alabama was charged with just one 10-yard penalty.
Kiffin said he was disappointed not only with the difference in calls but also with a possible unsportsmanlike penalty that wasn't called.
After Cody blocked the field goal attempt, he removed and threw his helmet and ran across the field in celebration as time expired.
"If a play's still going, you can't take your helmet off," Kiffin said. "A guy throws his helmet as the ball's still live. He throws his helmet and then two of their guys go and recover the ball. It's a 15-yard penalty, and you kick again."
Kiffin said he discussed the play with SEC commissioner Mike Slive and had left phone messages for SEC coordinator of officiating Rogers Redding that hadn't been returned.
He also knows to expect a reprimand from the SEC for criticizing officials as Arkansas Bobby Petrino was for criticizing officiating in his team's loss to Florida on Oct. 17.
"I'm sure we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing as Bobby got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on," Kiffin said.
The Vols returned to practice on Sunday afternoon rather than Monday as they have done all season in an effort to put the game behind them more quickly.
Kiffin said he'd considered changing the team's practice schedule even before the Alabama loss to also give players more time on Monday for studying and planned on making the change permanent.
The Vols were upbeat during practice, and Kiffin said he thought they had recognized how much they had improved from the blowouts they suffered to the Crimson Tide in 2007 and 2008.
"For the guys that have been there, they've had two years of just getting run up and down the field by that team and getting dominated. So they see the difference. They see where they're going and it's a powerful message," he said.
I would like to know which plays he was talking about. I think alot of their penalties were for false start, in which you could see them committing the foul. Even on replay it was pretty clear a lineman had moved out of his stance. I guess Kiffin missed the no-call on his CB for PI against Julio in the end zone. If that wasn't PI, I don't know what is. UT committed 7 penalties for 47 yards in a thrashing against UGA at home. They committed 8 penalties for 68 yards against Alabama on the road after a bye week. Thats pretty much a PI call difference from the UGA game.
The illegal block penalty in the 3rd quarter? That was fairly obvious. 15 yards.
Delay of game in the 3rd? How do you argue that?
False start in the beginning of the 4th? They replayed it, and it was right.
Holding in the 4th? He took Dareus and pulled him to the ground by his jersey, then held him on the ground with his hands still grabbing his jersey.
Roughing the kicker in the 4th? Meh, it might have been able to go both ways. Personally I think they have been a little too quick to throw a flag on those, but I thought it was consistant with what they have been flagging teams for. It certainly wasn't clearly a bad call, but not a great call. We fumbled the very next play so I don't see how that helped us.
False start on the last drive? The fucking center picked the ball up off the ground and had it halfway to the QB's hands and then put the ball back down. Thats a false start.
And as far as the Cody penalty? We recovered the blocked field goal. It still would have been our ball. In that instance, it is a live ball penalty treated as a dead ball foul. It doesn't matter in what sequence it happened. If there was any time left on the clock, it would have been Alabama ball and our offense would have a 15 yard penalty. This was even confirmed by the SEC spokesman. The ball crossed the neutral zone, and could not be advanced by UT anyway. Had they touched it, it would have been a dead ball at the spot of the touch. The ball was essentially ours the second it hit the turf.
I'm also surprised that he wasn't bitching about the headsets again. According to him, that was an Alabama conspiracy as well and it has happened many other times to other teams in Tuscaloosa. I cannot recall one time ever that they have had to do that, because when the game started I was like....wtf? Our OC is in the press box. Their DC is on the field. How does that give us an advantage when we can't use headsets?
Bottom line? Your team played pretty damn hard. They came up a little short. I know its difficult to do, but damn, accept it and move on. You're not impressing anybody but maybe a few of your fans and some AU fans by creating conspiracy theories.
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