Danny Kanell trolls SEC using Michigan amid Ohio State early blowout of Tennessee

With Ohio State rolling for much of the first half against Tennessee on Saturday night in Ohio Stadium, the shoe was on the other foot for SEC partisans that had spent the preceding half day clamoring about blowouts and the absence of 9-3 SEC teams. And CBS Sports’ Danny Kanell was happy to continue his role as an SEC heel.

Kanell posited that Michigan would win the SEC, seemingly given that the Wolverines — which finished 7-5 in the regular season — had beaten an Ohio State team that was now rolling against one of the better SEC squads.

“Michigan might’ve won the SEC,” Kanell said.

And while Kanell was assuredly trolling or being tongue-in-cheek, depending on ones perspective, his analogy doesn’t necessarily hold water, either.

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Michigan hosted SEC runner up Texas in Week 2 and lost in lopsided fashion, which dilutes any value of the Wolverines being transitively better than Tennessee.

But with the SEC team playing out of a hole against a Big Ten foe in primetime, Kanell saw his opportunity and took it still to try and needle the SEC boosters.

The broadcast crew was skeptical of a crucial personal foul penalty against Ohio State

It appeared that Ohio State had punished a Nico Iamaleava mistake, with Davison Igbinosun intercepting the jumping pass the Tennessee quarterback threw in the second quarter, in Buckeye territory. But a flag wiped out the play.

Iamaleava was driven into the turf after his jump by Ohio State pass rusher Kenyatta Jackson Jr., who wa called for roughing the passer. It’s a call that the ESPN booth of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and rules analyst Bill LeMonnier didn’t agree with.

“I wanna ask Bill here, but I think it was the fact that he grabbed Nico as he threw him and then drove him into the ground. Ohio State brings pressure on the outside. It gets picked up, but watch 97 after the throw, drive him into the ground. That’s the only think I can see, Bill,” Herbstreit said.

LeMonnier concurred, and Herbstreit continued, pointing out the call is commonplace in the NFL.

“By the way, Bill, you see that called in the NFL all the time because of what happened to Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins, they kind of made that rule to prevent that, the back of the head hitting the turf. You don’t see it called in college, ever. The driving into the ground as often,” Herbstreit said.

And then Fowler added his take on the play.

“It’s a great play by Igbinosun that’s going to be nullified. Iamaleava was in the air when Jackson hit him and I don’t see that. Neither does Ryan Day,” Fowler said.