Big Dan Got Mad Ups v. The Incontinence of a Nation: Best Plays of 2007

by Joel Hollingsworth on May 23, 2008 8:00 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

I'm in the car all day on the way to Tampa, so I won't be around to react to your comments. Carry on without me, though, because one of the new features of RTT 2.0 is the ability to set posts to go live sometime in the future. We have four more first round matchups today. This one should have gone live at 8:00 EST. The others should follow at 10:00, 12:00, and 2:00, all EST. Assuming I did everything right, of course. So boo from the other dimension.

Next up in the Best Plays of 2007 Brackety-ish Thingy is No. 1 seed Big Dan Got Mad Ups versus No. 4 seed The Incontinence of a Nation.

The contestants:

Big Dan Got Mad Ups

At stake: A trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game against LSU.

In-game context: Let's recap. First half: Vols. Second half: 'Cats. First OT: tie. Second OT: disaster for the Vols, as the Vols get the ball first and Erik Ainge throws an interception, usually a death knell in college OT. No problemo, says Big Dan Williams:

Impact: Eric Berry begs to differ, sir Williams, as he was nearly decapitated without consequence due to some bizarre quirk in the OT rules. In any event, that play preserved the tie and the scoreless second OT and set the stage for the Vols to finally win in the 4th OT.

The Incontinence of a Nation

At stake: You know the story. Tennessee was not looking much like Tennessee, with the exception of the Georgia game, and was coming off a horrid loss to Alabama the week before. Would we go in the tank or would we, like so many times in seasons prior, put together a run?

In-game context: There's something I didn't mention in yesterday's Yeehaw for Penalties post, namely that Daniel Lincoln almost didn't have the second chance at a field goal, and it wasn't just the penalty on the prior play, and it wasn't just Ainge's sack and near fumble two plays prior to that. No, two plays prior to that, Arian Foster made 108,000+ lose control of their bladders. Fortunately, offensive lineman Jacques McClendon was their to . . . um . . . mop up:

Impact: Well, that's one way to gain a first down. Tennessee flirted with disaster that entire series, what with Ainge's sack/near fumble and the false start penalty negating Lincoln's miss. But, Lincoln hit the longer one and sent us to OT and the victory.

So which of these two will advance? That's up to you. Vote below.

Poll

Which of the plays advances to the next round, huh?

Big Dan Got Mad Ups

49 votes

The Incontinence of a Nation

8 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Big Dan

Any big man with ups gets my vote. I also default to the ginormity of the play with respect to making/breaking a season. As stated, an OT INT is typically certain disaster…in this case playmakers made plays to keep his team in the game.

by Aerobab on May 23, 2008 8:15 AM EDT reply actions

A funny thing about that E-B near-decapitation:

the guy who made that “tackle” was literally the last defender left on that side of the field. (Count ‘em starting from the pitchback.) With the two blockers in position to take out the next two guys transitioning back, Berry had a very, very good chance of returning the rest of the way if he had made it past that defender. Since the two units were FG special teams units, the number of UK players on the field that had a chance to keep up with Berry was very small – maybe 2 at most.

by David Hooper on May 23, 2008 8:36 AM EDT reply actions

Yea

I thought for sure EB was taking this one back, I remember being livid that there could be no penalty because it was the end of that OT.

by Getoffmyvols on May 23, 2008 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Was it that there was no penalty,

or that there could be no untimed play after the penalty since the penalty was technically against the offense?

by David Hooper on May 23, 2008 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions

The penalty is automatically declined

because you cannot carry over a live-ball penalty to the next series, and you are not going to replay the down because it was after a change of posession. You can only carry over dead-ball fouls (see:Arian Foster throwing the ball away like a baby.)

by grayramsey712 on May 23, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions

That's basically what I figured,

though I do wish you could accept it. Even if it doesn’t make any difference, I’d like to have on the record books that the penalty was enforced.

But the simple answer would have been one undowned play since UT had possession and was, in effect, on offense at that point. Of course, then we wouldn’t have had the additional wildness that followed.

by David Hooper on May 23, 2008 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

The problem is that,

If Berry does run that back all the way, (correct me if I’m wrong) we win the game right there. The face mask was basically an illegal move that saved the game without consequence

by Getoffmyvols on May 23, 2008 12:00 PM EDT reply actions

That's correct.

Whether they enforced the penalty or not, there’s no way to recover the potential touchdown.

The only condition I know of otherwise would have been if EB had been in the clear and a UK player came in from the sideline to tackle him at the 10 or so. In that case, the TD would have been so evident that they probably would have awarded it to him anyhow. But that’s obviously not the case here, even if they do accept the penalty somehow.

It’s a definite loophole and I’m sure that there are coaches who remind their players of that on such a play. I certainly won’t accuse uK of intentionally designing an intentional fould before the play (as a contingency), but I have no doubt that there are teams that would have.

by David Hooper on May 23, 2008 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions