Water bottles. A Krispy Kreme box. Beer cans. A French’s mustard squirt bottle. Liquor bottles. A golf ball.
Really, a golf ball? Who brings a golf ball to a college football game?
Yet the image of the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium football field littered with those objects near the close of the Volunteers’ narrow 31-26 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night, after the officiating crew marked a fourth-down catch by Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren 1 yard shy of a first down inside the final minute, is what too much of America will associate with the school in the days and weeks to come.
If it wasn’t exactly a full-blown riot, it was nevertheless a full-blown embarrassment.
“It’s an emotional game and fans are emotional, but you never expect something like that, to see all that stuff come flying out of the stands,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told ESPN afterward. “I got hit with a golf ball, but at least whoever threw it was smart enough to throw a dirty range ball.”