As the dozens and dozens of items flew down onto the field ā everything from water bottles to a mustard bottle to a yellow golf ball ā Tennesseeās reputation as having the worst fan base in college football grew incrementally. As each item crashed to the turf, another piece of empirical evidence was added to a rich history of collective classlessness.
As the minutes ticked by and the hailstorm continued, Tennessee fans exhibited a level of fan misbehavior that we havenāt seen in college football this generation. Weāve never seen a recent scene in college football so unsafe that cheerleaders, the dance team and band had to leave their home field for protection, some shielding their heads with placards designed to cheer on the team.
A fan base with a vocal element that has always traded in the sewer of the sport somehow found a lower level. On a night when Tennessee football eventually lost to Ole Miss, its fans also found new depths.
In the wake of Ole Miss outlasting Tennessee in Lake Kiffinās supercharged return to Neyland Stadium, the spectacle of a 20-minute delay from debris being thrown onto the field overshadowed a fantastic game. And it brought the focus of the sport to Tennesseeās fan base, whose last public riot resulted in VolTwitter choosing the most incompetent coach and athletic director pairing in the SEC this generation.
Where will Tennesseeās depths take them this time? Thatās the conundrum facing Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey as they navigate potential punishments for this seminal moment of fan misbehavior.
For Plowman, sheās going to confront a most uncomfortable scenario for a leader, as her actions in the upcoming days will be remembered far longer than any dean she hires or new academic building erected on her watch.
Plowman needs to do something to prove to her peers in the SEC that Tennessee takes the most basic tenet of sport ā player safety ā seriously. And to do it, sheās going to have to endure the same caliber of vitriol that rained down on her own team, band and cheerleaders on Saturday night.
Sheās going to have to punish the Tennessee fan base enough to make it uncomfortable, to make fans think twice about throwing things and endangering players, coaches and those cheerleaders. Tennessee is firmly lodged in the SECās behavior basement. And how punitive Plowmanās decision is ā and Sankeyās, too ā will show if thereās real interest in changing that reputation.
Plowman in particular is going to deal with the type of uncomfortable, unsettling and unhinged behavior thatās become synonymous with the fringes of Tennesseeās fan base. Shut off your mentions, Donde, this is going to be unpleasant.
Both the chancellor and SEC commissioner released post-midnight statements showing their disgust at the proceedings and hinting at severe punishment. Will their actions match their words?
The fan meltdown at Neyland Stadium turned into a touchstone moment for college sports, a nadir of fan behavior that promises to be the benchmark for unruliness for years to come. Think about it: The situation got so bad that Tennessee officials had to vacate their own cheerleaders from the field to protect them from the home fans
throwing projectiles. All of this started with a controversial spot that went against Tennessee.
If thereās been a college football game delayed this long because of fan behavior in the last 20 years, this reporter sure doesnāt remember it.
Something punitive needs to happen. Tennessee embarrassed the entire state, SEC and sport on Saturday night, a 20-minute satire of the toxicity thatās personified Vol Nationās fellowship of the miserable. Things got so bad that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told his team to put their helmets on to protect themselves. He held a yellow range golf ball that was thrown at him in the postgame interview, an eternal item and image that will represent for decades the depths of this dark night. Tennessee managed to turn Lane Kiffin into a sympathetic figure while winning in his return to Neyland Stadium ā thatās a plot twist that no SEC fan fiction writer could have conjured.
Plowman indicated sheās taking things seriously, saying sheās āastonished and sickenedā by the actions. āBehavior that puts student athletes, coaches, visitors and other fans at risk is not something we will tolerate.ā
Hereās an idea. When Tennessee plays its next home game against Georgia on Nov. 13, the Vols should play in front of a stadium without any Vols fans. All ticket holders should be refunded. But more important, the significant advantage of playing a home game in front of a home crowd should be taken away. With those 90,000-plus voices silenced, the Vols will have little chance against the No. 1 Bulldogs. (Letting in 5,000 or so UGA fans ā whatever their normal allotment is ā would be a nice touch.)
It goes without saying that anyone caught tossing projectiles ā both in real time or later on video ā should have their tickets be revoked and be banned for an indefinite period. Thatās the easy part, the tangible stuff.
So what will Tennessee actually do? The idiocy on display at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night calls for something drastic. It will take years for Tennessee to shake the stigma of having the sportās worst fan culture. This wasnāt a one-night stand of lunacy for Tennesseeās fans, as the Schiano Sunday revolt showed. While surely all Tennessee fans werenāt throwing bottles on Saturday night ā and a vast majority of Vol fans arenāt lunatics ā there are clearly enough empowered to endanger the dance team. So something has to change.
Sankey released a statement at 1:29 am EST that called the Tennessee behavior āunacceptable under any circumstances.ā He added that the SEC will be reviewing the policies and commissionerās authority āto impose penalties.ā His goal? āTo make certain this situation is not repeated.ā
A simple fine isnāt going to do anything for Tennessee. Itāll just be another drop in debt bucket next to the massive coaching buyouts and NCAA legal fees it has compiled in its debt ledger in recent years.
What happened at Tennessee on Saturday night should never happen again ā either in the SEC or beyond in college football. It was unsafe, untoward and completely unnecessary. It was the actions of many who believed thereād be no consequences, and itās up to Plowman and Sankey to remind everyone that consequences come with illicit behavior.
What unfolded was especially embarrassing to the thousands of classy and well-behaved Tennessee fans, who deserve to go root on their team without watching a crew of idiots take target practice at the players, Kiffin and the schoolās own marching band. There are a lot of upstanding Tennessee fans who should be angry this morning, as theyāre now labeled as part of the sportās laughingstock.
Tennesseeās last momentous melodrama of fan outrage back in 2017 ended with Tennessee getting karmic punishment ā the coaching of Jeremy Pruitt and the stewardship of Phil Fulmer, a duo so incompetent and bumbling that theyāll be the low parallel bars for SEC ineptitude for the next generation.
Along with the product on the field Tennessee fans had to endure during Pruittās tenure, the NCAA issues and legal bills will continue to haunt the school for much of the next decade.
This time, the damage canāt simply come in the drip, drip, drip of bad decisions and rooted in nostalgia instead of logic. This time, Tennessee administrators need to take a long look in the mirror and show that the school isnāt comfortable being the SEC's punchline.
Itās a shame that the progress of new coach Josh Heupel has been intercepted by Tennesseeās tortured soul. This hurts recruiting, hurts reputations and just reinforces the day-in and day-out dysfunction that Heupel and new AD Danny White have attempted to resolve.
Instead, itās same-old Tennessee. And the world waits to see if a strong enough punishment will arrive to ensure the school doesnāt careen to these depths again.
sports.yahoo.com
As the minutes ticked by and the hailstorm continued, Tennessee fans exhibited a level of fan misbehavior that we havenāt seen in college football this generation. Weāve never seen a recent scene in college football so unsafe that cheerleaders, the dance team and band had to leave their home field for protection, some shielding their heads with placards designed to cheer on the team.
A fan base with a vocal element that has always traded in the sewer of the sport somehow found a lower level. On a night when Tennessee football eventually lost to Ole Miss, its fans also found new depths.
In the wake of Ole Miss outlasting Tennessee in Lake Kiffinās supercharged return to Neyland Stadium, the spectacle of a 20-minute delay from debris being thrown onto the field overshadowed a fantastic game. And it brought the focus of the sport to Tennesseeās fan base, whose last public riot resulted in VolTwitter choosing the most incompetent coach and athletic director pairing in the SEC this generation.
Where will Tennesseeās depths take them this time? Thatās the conundrum facing Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey as they navigate potential punishments for this seminal moment of fan misbehavior.
For Plowman, sheās going to confront a most uncomfortable scenario for a leader, as her actions in the upcoming days will be remembered far longer than any dean she hires or new academic building erected on her watch.
Plowman needs to do something to prove to her peers in the SEC that Tennessee takes the most basic tenet of sport ā player safety ā seriously. And to do it, sheās going to have to endure the same caliber of vitriol that rained down on her own team, band and cheerleaders on Saturday night.
Sheās going to have to punish the Tennessee fan base enough to make it uncomfortable, to make fans think twice about throwing things and endangering players, coaches and those cheerleaders. Tennessee is firmly lodged in the SECās behavior basement. And how punitive Plowmanās decision is ā and Sankeyās, too ā will show if thereās real interest in changing that reputation.
Plowman in particular is going to deal with the type of uncomfortable, unsettling and unhinged behavior thatās become synonymous with the fringes of Tennesseeās fan base. Shut off your mentions, Donde, this is going to be unpleasant.
Both the chancellor and SEC commissioner released post-midnight statements showing their disgust at the proceedings and hinting at severe punishment. Will their actions match their words?
The fan meltdown at Neyland Stadium turned into a touchstone moment for college sports, a nadir of fan behavior that promises to be the benchmark for unruliness for years to come. Think about it: The situation got so bad that Tennessee officials had to vacate their own cheerleaders from the field to protect them from the home fans
throwing projectiles. All of this started with a controversial spot that went against Tennessee.
If thereās been a college football game delayed this long because of fan behavior in the last 20 years, this reporter sure doesnāt remember it.
Something punitive needs to happen. Tennessee embarrassed the entire state, SEC and sport on Saturday night, a 20-minute satire of the toxicity thatās personified Vol Nationās fellowship of the miserable. Things got so bad that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told his team to put their helmets on to protect themselves. He held a yellow range golf ball that was thrown at him in the postgame interview, an eternal item and image that will represent for decades the depths of this dark night. Tennessee managed to turn Lane Kiffin into a sympathetic figure while winning in his return to Neyland Stadium ā thatās a plot twist that no SEC fan fiction writer could have conjured.
Plowman indicated sheās taking things seriously, saying sheās āastonished and sickenedā by the actions. āBehavior that puts student athletes, coaches, visitors and other fans at risk is not something we will tolerate.ā
Hereās an idea. When Tennessee plays its next home game against Georgia on Nov. 13, the Vols should play in front of a stadium without any Vols fans. All ticket holders should be refunded. But more important, the significant advantage of playing a home game in front of a home crowd should be taken away. With those 90,000-plus voices silenced, the Vols will have little chance against the No. 1 Bulldogs. (Letting in 5,000 or so UGA fans ā whatever their normal allotment is ā would be a nice touch.)
It goes without saying that anyone caught tossing projectiles ā both in real time or later on video ā should have their tickets be revoked and be banned for an indefinite period. Thatās the easy part, the tangible stuff.
So what will Tennessee actually do? The idiocy on display at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night calls for something drastic. It will take years for Tennessee to shake the stigma of having the sportās worst fan culture. This wasnāt a one-night stand of lunacy for Tennesseeās fans, as the Schiano Sunday revolt showed. While surely all Tennessee fans werenāt throwing bottles on Saturday night ā and a vast majority of Vol fans arenāt lunatics ā there are clearly enough empowered to endanger the dance team. So something has to change.
Sankey released a statement at 1:29 am EST that called the Tennessee behavior āunacceptable under any circumstances.ā He added that the SEC will be reviewing the policies and commissionerās authority āto impose penalties.ā His goal? āTo make certain this situation is not repeated.ā
A simple fine isnāt going to do anything for Tennessee. Itāll just be another drop in debt bucket next to the massive coaching buyouts and NCAA legal fees it has compiled in its debt ledger in recent years.
What happened at Tennessee on Saturday night should never happen again ā either in the SEC or beyond in college football. It was unsafe, untoward and completely unnecessary. It was the actions of many who believed thereād be no consequences, and itās up to Plowman and Sankey to remind everyone that consequences come with illicit behavior.
What unfolded was especially embarrassing to the thousands of classy and well-behaved Tennessee fans, who deserve to go root on their team without watching a crew of idiots take target practice at the players, Kiffin and the schoolās own marching band. There are a lot of upstanding Tennessee fans who should be angry this morning, as theyāre now labeled as part of the sportās laughingstock.
Tennesseeās last momentous melodrama of fan outrage back in 2017 ended with Tennessee getting karmic punishment ā the coaching of Jeremy Pruitt and the stewardship of Phil Fulmer, a duo so incompetent and bumbling that theyāll be the low parallel bars for SEC ineptitude for the next generation.
Along with the product on the field Tennessee fans had to endure during Pruittās tenure, the NCAA issues and legal bills will continue to haunt the school for much of the next decade.
This time, the damage canāt simply come in the drip, drip, drip of bad decisions and rooted in nostalgia instead of logic. This time, Tennessee administrators need to take a long look in the mirror and show that the school isnāt comfortable being the SEC's punchline.
Itās a shame that the progress of new coach Josh Heupel has been intercepted by Tennesseeās tortured soul. This hurts recruiting, hurts reputations and just reinforces the day-in and day-out dysfunction that Heupel and new AD Danny White have attempted to resolve.
Instead, itās same-old Tennessee. And the world waits to see if a strong enough punishment will arrive to ensure the school doesnāt careen to these depths again.
Takeaways: What should Tennessee's punishment be for ugly scene in Knoxville?
It doesn't get much uglier than what happened in Knoxville on Saturday night. The question is what's going to be done about it.
