Just to put some additional context around this, Tennessee played in the dome in 1998 in the opener. It was Donovan McNabb's senior year, and we were poised to spring the upset. Game went right down to the wire.
But since the game was in the dome, there was an SEC officiating crew. And they called it least two, possibly three, uniform violations against Syracuse before plays were run. Apparently, the infraction was that the football pants weren't below the knee, or some goofy explanation. Up to that point, I'd never seen that call made at any level, in any game before.
I remember a couple years ago watching a random college football game, and the same penalty was called. Brought back bad memories, and it's the only time I've ever seen it flagged.
But overall, it's smacked of the biased SEC officiating crew doing whatever they could to give their team an advantage.
As mentioned, the game went right down to the wire. It was fourth and long, and Tennessee through an incompletion. Only to have a late flag come in from a referee who was out of position, calling pass interference. It was BS.
