Josh Heupel can't explain official kicking ball before Tennessee's failed fourth down in loss at Florida
GAINESVILLE — Tennessee faced fourth-and-1 at the Florida 17-yard line with just over five minutes left in the third quarter Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Vols trailed 26-13 after kicking a field goal to start the second half and were trying to claw their way back into the game.
With the offense on the ball, preparing to go for it on the fourth down, an official mistakenly kicked the football and was forced to re-spot the ball. Florida’s defense was allowed to substitute, forcing the Vols to pause.
“I was pretty confused on what was going on,” Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III said after the game, “just because the ball moved so much.”
After the ball was set, Milton handed off to running back Jaylen Wright, who lost two yards on the play, giving the ball back to Florida as the Gators were on their way to a 29-16 win at The Swamp.
College football rules allow defenses to substitute if an offense substitutes, with an official standing over the ball while the substations take place.
“The ref blew the whistle, so in my head I’m thinking that he’s gonna reposition the ball,” Milton said, “so it don’t be too much confusion on with the snap. But they let it roll. Everything else out of that was out of our hands. That’s pretty much (it). You gotta control the controllable at that point.”
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an official kick the ball’
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel didn’t have much more of an explanation during his postgame press conference while trying to answer what exactly what happened during the sequence and why it happened the way it did.
“I guess the official kicked the ball, moved the ball,” he said, “then re-spotted it and then they allowed them to sub.”
Heupel was then asked if there’s a rule that allows the defense to substitute while the ball is being reset. Again he didn’t have an answer.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an official kick the ball,” Heupel said. “Gotta go check the rule book.”
Penalties marred No. 11 Tennessee (2-1, 0-1 SEC) in the loss. The Vols in total were penalized 10 times for 79 yards, including five false start penalties in front of the sold-out crowd of 90,751.
“Myriad of things that, on those sequences, end of the day we gotta operate fully capable of it,” Heupel said of the pre-snap penalties. “(It’s) part of the disappointment.”
Up Next: Tennessee vs. UTSA, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Tennessee started the game with a six-play, 71-yard touchdown drive, with Milton throwing an 11-yard fade to Ramel Keyton in the corner of the end zone. The Vols didn’t get back in the end zone until the 8:41 mark of the fourth quarter, when Milton threw a 55-yard touchdown to Bru McCoy.
Milton finished 20 of 34 for 287 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Trevor Etienne led Florida (2-1, 1-0) with 172 rushing yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.
Florida used a 20-point second quarter to take control, building a 26-7 lead at halftime after going 7-for-8 on third down in the first half.
“Extremely disappointing start to the football game, first half,” Heupel said. “Not very good in any sense of the way. Offense had the one drive and defense got the one stop. Other than that, not the way you wanna start.
“I do appreciate the competitiveness of the guys come out and compete and play in in the second half. Still didn’t play as clean as we need to, as well as we need to in a lot of ways. But they did fight.
“We gotta get a lot better,” Heupel continued. “Hats off, give credit to Florida. They did a good job. But we gotta get a lot better. We need to be cleaner.”
