Refereeing mishap leads to viral moment for confused Tennessee football fan

After a series of calls made by referees during an Ole Miss play, the result of the play led to one confused Tennessee football fan becoming a viral image. On a play that quarterback Matt Corral thought was blown dead by referees, the whistles never actually were blown and play continued.

Corral was sacked by a pair of Tennessee pass rushers and Corral fumbled the ball as he was not expecting the hits. The fumble was overturned by the referees, calling the play down by forward progress before the fumble, leading to the fan’s viral moment of confusion.

This Tennessee fan gave off the exact same energy as Mr. Krabs. pic.twitter.com/jorgCyziFg

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 17, 2021

Confused Tennessee football fan

The play itself confused almost everybody involved as it started with Corral simply standing up with the football during live play. Not hearing any whistles, the Tennessee defense played through and stripped the football out of Corral’s hands before he hit the ground.

The Volunteers scooped up the ball and ran it into the end zone before learning that the play was blown dead by the referees the moment they hit the quarterback. The play would result in a sack and nothing more, leading to plenty of frustration from Tennessee fans.

Marc Curles just took a touchdown away from Tennessee. They need to cut ties with this man. pic.twitter.com/mZz768iSx2

— SportsTalkSEC (@SportsTalk_SEC) October 17, 2021

Cameras caught the hilarious reaction of one particular fan in the stands who couldn’t believe it when the touchdown was taken away. The fan would go on to be compared to a character from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants on social media.

So wait a minute…

1. Matt Corral thought play was dead and just stood there
2. Defense tackled him
3. He fumbled
4. Defense returned it for a TD
5. Refs said forward progress was stopped and brought it backpic.twitter.com/Kibeu59cPQ

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 17, 2021

Fans were left wondering how the referees could allow the play to continue, but not let the play develop entirely as it appeared the referees blew the play dead early as they were confused as well.

Ole Miss with Matt Corral

“Corral is passing for 299.4 yards a game with a completion percentage of 69.18% and 12 touchdowns,” wrote Chuck Rounsaville of On3 Sports about Corral. “Also, perhaps the best stat of all is that he has not thrown an interception this season yet. [Please don’t jinx him Chuck.] Last year by this time, I think he had quite a few, if memory serves.

“Also, he’s second on the team in rushing at 51 yards a game [including losses] and leading the team in scoring with eight touchdown jaunts and a two-pointer against Arkansas that almost decapitated him. Also, as a sidebar to the toughness comment, the young man doesn’t do a lot of sliding to avoid contact. He seems to relish it in fact.

“On the sidelines, you can tell he’s the man in charge of the offense, roaming the offensive area while giving encouragement to his teammates,” continued Rounsaville. “Do not lessen the importance of that. Historically, leadership automatically goes to the quarterback, but there have been plenty who shrink from that responsibility.”