The bizarre and unfortunate ending to Tennessee-Ole Miss prompted a flood of emotions.
Anger at the needlessness of it all.
Sadness over how it overshadowed a terrific game.
Confusion over why someone brought a golf ball to a football game.
There were zero reasons for Tennessee fans to pummel the field with debris in the game’s final minute. No matter how upset one might be over a questionable call, there is no excuse for hurling water bottles, golf balls, mustard and other items onto the field. If you can’t see why that behavior is completely unacceptable, you’re incapable of viewing the situation rationally. One of those items thrown onto the field could have seriously injured someone, and that cannot be tolerated.
Unfortunately, a minority of the fans in attendance ruined what had otherwise been a very exciting game. Tennessee gave Ole Miss a real fight and offered a glimpse of what could come in the future under first-year head coach Josh Heupel. After watching Saturday night’s game, I should be writing about how Tennessee looks respectable and might even be ahead of schedule under Heupel. Instead, the childish actions of malevolent fans will dominate the discussion of Tennessee-Ole Miss. What happened inside Neyland Stadium wasn’t a fair representation of the majority of the Tennessee fanbase, but it wasn’t the work of a lone fan, either. There was significant debris on the sidelines, enough to turn Tennessee fans into a national embarrassment yet again even if only a minority of the fans in attendance tossed items. That might not seem fair to the good, level-headed Tennessee fans who didn’t partake, but it’s the reality of the situation after the pathetic display that occurred at the end of the game.
It was so bad that Tennessee cheerleaders, dance team and the band all left the field before the game was over. Cheerleaders ran with signs covering their heads in case a projectile headed their way. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin instructed his team to put on their helmets after he was almost hit with a golf ball. It was abhorrent behavior all because fans were upset a close call on a spot after a catch went against the Volunteers. The classless actions from fans prompted strong rebukes from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Tennessee president Donde Plowman and Tennessee AD Danny White. Plowman said she was “astonished and sickened by the behavior of some Vol fans at the end of tonight’s game.”
Sankey issued a strongly-worded statement after the pathetic display in Knoxville, saying the actions were “unacceptable under any circumstances.”. Sankey hinted at what’s to come by pointing out the league would review policies and the commissioner’s authority to “impose penalties and communicate with the leadership of the University of Tennessee -- and all of the SEC’s member institutions -- to make certain this situation is not repeated.”
Soon we’ll find out just how strong the commissioner’s actions are paired with those words. If schools can be fined $250,000 for rushing the field, Sankey needs to levy a more significant fine for what transpired in Neyland Stadium. It’ll be a difficult balance for Sankey to dole out a strong enough punishment to prevent actions like that from ever happening again while not overdoing it. Anyone caught involved in throwing debris should be banned from SEC events for life. The SEC should hit Tennessee with a hefty fine and a stern warning that could come with real consequences like banning fans in attendance if it ever happens again. Luckily no one was seriously injured from anything thrown onto the field, but Kiffin and others could have been badly hurt if hit in the wrong spot by golf balls and full water bottles.
What Tennessee fans did Saturday night never should have happened. It is an unfortunate and ugly incident that stains everything good that happened earlier that night. Now it is up to Sankey and Tennessee leaders to ensure it never happens again.
Want more SEC football insights? Sign up for our new college football newsletter here that will arrive right in your inbox each Thursday morning.
Dan Mullen’s probably not the guy
Let’s start here: Dan Mullen is a good football coach. Bad coaches don’t lead Mississippi State to a No. 1 ranking and a New Year’s Six bowl in 2014. He also has a deserved reputation for developing quarterbacks after his work with Dak Prescott, Alex Smith, and Tim Tebow. When he gets things going, Mullen can be one of the best offensive play-callers around. He won the SEC East last season and has taken Florida to a New Year’s Six bowl game three consecutive seasons in Gainesville.
But after watching Florida lose to LSU, a game it had zero business losing for multiple reasons, it is fair to question whether Mullen is the right fit for Florida long-term. Mullen was very good at doing more with less at Mississippi State, but the expectations are different at Florida. Losing only four games a year gets you a job for life in Starkville; in Gainesville, it can get you on the hot seat in a hurry. This isn’t an argument for Mullen to be on the hot seat now, but rather an acknowledgment it’ll trend that way sooner than later at this rate.
Mullen is 4-6 over his last 10 games. When you subtract wins against Florida Atlantic and South Florida, the Gators are 2-6 in their last eight games against Power 5 opponents. That is completely unacceptable at a school like Florida with the recruiting base, fanbase and infrastructure in place to be an annual national championship contender. That is not up to the “Gator Standard” Mullen loves to reference, once explaining it is about excellence and “being the best you can be.” Unfortunately for Mullen, Florida hasn’t come close to being the best it can be this season. That’s not acceptable when you remember Mullen is the sixth highest-paid coach in America at $7.5 million annually, making more than coaches like Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.
Smart’s ascendant No. 1 Georgia program has made it harder to win the SEC East, but Florida hasn’t even played the Bulldogs yet this season and already has three losses. Losing to Alabama is one thing, but losing to a short-handed LSU team led by a man on the hottest of seats could be a new low for the Mullen era. It’s only “could be” because Florida lost a game last season because a player threw a shoe.
When you assess Mullen, there are two big issues. First, he will always believe he’s the smartest person in any room and be petulantly stubborn when questioned. It was clear to anyone with working eyes Saturday that Anthony Richardson needs to be the starting quarterback moving forward. But Mullen has been stubborn all season about playing Emory Jones over Richardson, so when asked about it Saturday, he was noncommittal.
“We’re going to evaluate a lot of things,” Mullen said. “I thought you saw some good things from both quarterbacks today, saw some mistakes from both quarterbacks today. So we’ll evaluate that of how that’s going to play out moving forward.”
If how it plays out moving forward isn’t Richardson as the starter, Florida fans might revolt. It’s obvious even with some mistakes against LSU that Richardson is the better quarterback and gives the Gators a better chance to win. That Mullen hasn’t already made the switch looks worse and worse as the season progresses while acknowledging Richardson dealt with some injury issues earlier in the year.
The other big issue is Mullen’s not a good enough recruiter to capitalize on Florida’s natural advantages. Mullen is almost always no match against Smart and Nick Saban for players they really want. Alabama and Georgia have more talent on their rosters than Florida, and that will not change as long as Mullen is there. He’s never been the most dynamic recruiter, and even though he’s done relatively well at Florida, it’s still not good enough to meet fan expectations. Florida has signed top-15 recruiting classes the last three years, but the problem is even when you do that, they aren’t ranked among the three best in the SEC. In 2020, Florida signed the nation’s No. 9 recruiting class, according to 247Sports, and yet it was only the sixth-best in the SEC. That’s the level of competition Mullen faces. Florida has lost to LSU three straight years, two of which it should have won, and it shouldn’t come as a major surprise given Florida also consistently ranks behind the Tigers in the recruiting rankings.
In the short term, Mullen will face pressure to dump defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. That move is long overdue, but Mullen has stayed loyal to Grantham, who is one of the nation’s highest-paid coordinators at $1.8 million. When you give up 321 rushing yards to a team that came in averaging only 81 yards per game in SEC play, it’s hard to argue anything other than a serious evaluation of the defensive strategy is needed. Hiring a more competent defensive coordinator will help, but the issues that plague this Florida program under Mullen won’t be fixed with one assistant hire. In Year 4 of the Mullen era, the issues are more deep-seated than that.
Florida has a bye next week before facing Georgia in Jacksonville. The Gators will lose and fall to at least four losses on the season, the 10th time out of 13 seasons as a head coach that Mullen will finish with at least four losses. Mullen has proven he can be a good coach, it just doesn’t look good enough for Florida.
RELATED: Ranking the SEC’s football coaching jobs
Ranking Week 8 SEC games:
1) LSU at Ole Miss, 2:30 p.m.: The Tigers are showing life after upsetting Florida while Ole Miss survived a chaotic night in Tennessee. Ed Orgeron needs to keep winning games like this to survive.
2) Tennessee at Alabama, 6 p.m.: The Volunteers looked competent against Ole Miss, though few will remember that about that game. Alabama came out looking to send a message against Mississippi State, but now the question is can the Tide can maintain that level of play?
3) South Carolina at Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m.: The Aggies are starting to play closer to preseason expectations while South Carolina was as lucky as a team can be to escape with a win last week.
4) Mississippi State at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m.: Vanderbilt is showing more life though it blew what should have been a win against South Carolina. The Bulldogs had no chance against Alabama, but should look better against the Commodores.
5) Arkansas Pine-Bluff at Arkansas, 11 a.m.: Arkansas has lost its last three games but should get back on track with an easy win here.
John Talty is the sports editor and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group. You can follow him on Twitter @JTalty. Want more SEC football insights? Sign up for our new college football newsletter here that will arrive right in your inbox each Thursday morning.
"behavior" - Google News
October 17, 2021 at 07:30PM
https://ift.tt/3j7xCLW
SEC needs to penalize Tennessee for fan behavior, Dan Mullen not the right guy for Florida - AL.com
"behavior" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2We9Kdi
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "SEC needs to penalize Tennessee for fan behavior, Dan Mullen not the right guy for Florida - AL.com"
Post a Comment