Not every play for positive yardage is a net positive for the team and player making it, particularly while playing from behind when a team needs a combination of big plays and clock management. One Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver is taking heat for not realizing this.
With 21 seconds to play and coming off three straight penalty plays, Tennessee trailed No. 1 Texas 20-17 and were at the middle of the field, vying for about 15-20 yards to get into game-tying field goal range. Vols QB Faizon Brandon dropped back and rather than throw it deep or throw it away as the pass rusher got close to him, he dumped it off just four yards down to tight end DaSaahn Brame, who caught the ball and stayed in bounds for just a short gain.
Tennessee had no timeouts and were forced to run to the line. They were only able to run one more play, which saw Brandon throw a Hail Mary into the endzone that went incomplete, cementing a loss for the Vols.
As the dust settled, fans on X started blasting Brame for making the catch on X:
“DaShaan Brame an idiot for catching that that’s what you get for flipping punk,” one user wrote.
“Why did that Tennessee WR catch that ball dude!?” wrote another.
“You don’t catch that when you have no timeouts, the entire Tennessee team looks like an immature team cause any other team would’ve made Texas look like a fool.”
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Who’s really to blame?
The blame doesn’t entirely fall on Brame for the loss though. That entire drive was an exercise in galaxy-brained decision-making by the entire Tennessee offense: Boneheaded penalties, poor blocking and poor playcalling was abound on that drive.
There’s also two other factors to consider: 1. The Tennessee offense called a play that had a receiver cross over the middle on a shallow route, 2. Tennessee QB Faizon Brandon threw the ball to him rather than throwing it out of bounds or into the ground.
But the biggest issue of all that some fans are starting to notice is that Brame might not have even caught the ball in the first place:
“Tennessee ran out of time but did Brame even catch the ball? They glossed over that detail pretty fast,” one user remarked.
“Go back and check. I think Brame didn’t catch it. (He shouldn’t have either. Just bat it down),” wrote another.
“Brame DID NOT CATCH THE FOOTBALL. Should have been a review. Costly.”
Maybe that’s just cope though. At the end of the day, the Vols’ loss was a team loss and while Brame may be remembered for the play, it’s not solely his fault the team lost.
