SEC hands out suspensions for Tennessee-Florida football fight at end of game
Tennessee defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott and three Florida players will be suspended for the first half of their respective games this week for their part in the fight at the end of the Vols' loss Saturday to the Gators, the SEC announced Monday.
No. 20 Tennessee (2-1) plays UTSA (1-2) on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.
For Florida, offensive linemen Damieon George and Micah Mazzccua and tight end Dante Zanders will be suspended for the first half against Charlotte on Saturday.
The suspensions were determined after video review and consultation among the SEC, Tennessee and Florida. Tennessee lost 29-16 to the Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The SEC called it "flagrant unsportsmanlike actions."
What each player did to earn a suspension in Tennessee vs. Florida
The final 10 seconds of Tennessee at Florida devolved into conflict following Vols coach Josh Heupel's timeout and a delayed kneel down by the Gators.
Florida quarterback Graham Mertz didn't take a knee on a fourth-down snap and instead "danced" around, in the estimation of Heupel and Vols defensive lineman Omari Thomas.
Thomas clipped Mertz as the Gators QB did drop toward a knee in the final seconds, which peeved the Gators. George ran in, shoving Thomas with both arms. Zanders checked UT defensive back Wesley Walker toward the turf. Norman-Lott stormed in and hit Gators offensive lineman Austin Barber. Mazzccua squared up with Vols cornerback Kamal Hadden and threw a punch at Hadden away from the main melee.
Why Josh Heupel called timeout and what followed
Heupel called a timeout with nine seconds to play with aspirations of Tennessee getting the ball back despite long odds of completing a 13-point comeback.
He explained that the Vols were trying to get the ball back and "take a shot at the end zone."
"I don’t know if you’re going to have enough time at an onside and maybe get a shot back," he said. "You are trying to finish and compete the right way. Obviously, at the end of it by the time of when it happened, we weren’t going to be able to have a full sequence of plays to try and get back into the end zone."
The timeout extended the game instead of letting the clock run out. Florida lined up to kneel down, but Mertz skedaddled out of the traditional kneel. He left the pocket and moved right to run time off the clock. The Vols pursued Mertz, with Thomas eventually making a semi-tackle attempt that started the fracas.
"We're expecting you to catch the ball one step back and take a knee," Thomas said Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club. “But once we see you back there dancing around with the ball, like we kind of take it as disrespect because you easily could just take a knee right there."
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: SEC hands out suspensions for Tennessee-Florida football fight at end of game
