SEC refs ignore blatant sideline hit by Tennessee against Kentucky

In the first half of the Kentucky Wildcats vs. Tennessee Volunteers game, Brock Vandagriff was flushed out of the pocket and scrambled for a few yards. As the tacklers approached, he wisely stepped out of bounds to avoid being hit. Except he did get hit by a player not in the game, who clearly pushed him over. The refs did not make a call, and the drive stalled out. It was clearly intentional that Vandagriff was shoved by a player standing along the sidelines both live and on replay.

Watch for yourself:

Carson Gentle is a defensive lineman for the Tennessee Volunteers, and instead of moving out of the way like you are supposed to. He could have even nicely slowed someone down with the hug. Instead, Gentle went with the hockey check. The announcers for the SEC Network were blown away that nothing was called, and so were Kentucky fans everywhere. It should have been a clear, unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Given Kentucky 15 yards and kept the drive along. However, it was the exact opposite; the drive stalled out.

If a player not in the game strikes or interferes with a player who has run out of bounds, it results in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Hopefully, the SEC will see this during the week and address it off the field. It doesn't need to be a fine or anything, but it should be a point of emphasis. If you are a Tennessee fan reading this, you may be thinking, "Don't be soft." But if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't want Nico Iamaleava taking a shot out of bounds when the QB is clearly trying to protect himself by stepping out of bounds.

It's a precedent thing, and we don't want players thinking it's okay to push, check, shove, trip, or anything else when a player is running out of bounds, especially when the player, Gentle, is about a hundred pounds heavier. We want to protect the players, especially the quarterbacks who already take a beating, and help keep the games exciting.