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Tennessee fans are some of the most dedicated in the country, cheering their team on through thick and thin. That passion can turn into delusion at times, though.
That’s the case this week as Vols supporters created a conspiracy theory as to why they missed the College Football Playoffs last season, and it’s directly linked to the Michigan sign stealing scandal.
Let’s rewind to the 2022 season.
Tennessee got off to an 8-0 start, ripping off wins against five ranked teams including Alabama. They fell on the road to No. 1 Georgia in their ninth game, but a CFP berth was still on the table should they run the table.
Unfortunately, they’d lose two weeks later to South Carolina in embarrassing fashion. The Vols watched Spencer Rattler throw six touchdown passes in the 63-38 defeat, which effectively ended any national championship hopes.
“We can’t have that happening anymore.”@CoachSBeamer on Williams-Brice running out of fireworks 😂 pic.twitter.com/E9Im2hV4w7
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 22, 2022
They’d close out the year with an Orange Bowl win over Clemson, but many were left wondering about what could’ve been.
Some think they know why the Gamecocks were on their game that late November night.
Vols link SC loss to Michigan sign stealing scandal.
With reports surfacing that Tennessee was a team potentially targeted in Michigan’s sign stealing operation last season, Vols fans have drummed up a new conspiracy.
Michigan gave South Carolina the UT signs because they were scared to face them in the postseason.
Remember last year, when the South Carolina Gamecocks had a magical resurgence at the end of the season by upsetting the Tennessee Vols and Clemson Tigers, costing both a shot at the College Football Playoff? It was impossible to explain. What if they had some help along the way from Michigan Football?
As crazy as it sounds, many have jumped on board.
We’ve reached an unprecedented level of conspiracy. Tennessee fans are now blaming last years blowout loss at South Carolina on.. you guessed it, MICHIGAN STEALING SIGNS LMFAO pic.twitter.com/EJvHlB0FsH
— grizzzy🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 (@_grizzzy_) October 25, 2023
A number of UT fans have referenced Shane Beamer’s ties to “WakeyLeaks,” a cheating scandal that saw a former Wake Forest assistant hand out Demon Deacon gameplans to opponents. Beamer, an coach at Virginia Tech the time, admitted to speaking with said assistant, though he claims any information gathered about specific plays wasn’t relayed to the rest of the Hokies coaching staff.
That WF-VT game ended up giving us one of the greatest college football visuals of all time.
Virginia Tech had Wake Forest’s entire offensive playbook in 2014 thanks to the WakeyLeaks scandal, and used it to give us this seminal moment in college football history. Michigan has a moral obligation to us as fans to at least do something really funny. pic.twitter.com/ly0QKxacZZ
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 25, 2023
Beamer was fined $25K for his role.
That certainly gives this theory the tiniest of legs, but it sounds more like sour grapes to most outside of Knoxville.
After all, this isn’t the first excuse we’ve heard from that specific game result. Immediately after the South Carolina loss, Tennessee fans blamed the playing field conditions for the blowout.
They’ve now moved on to a college football-wide conspiracy.