Dating back to the days he was cutting his teeth as the head coach at Boise State, Chris Petersen has been one of the most humble and down-to-earth head coaches in all of college football. He doesn't make outlandish statements to the media, he's always respectful of his opponents and coaching colleagues, and really never ruffles the feathers of his coaching brethren - that's more than what can be said between these two rivals.
None of that changed when he started taking Boise State to BCS games and beating college football blue bloods like Oklahoma, and he remains the same humble coach today at Washington as he was when he got his big break.
That's why this quote attributed to him by Gary Danielson during the second quarter of a CBS broadcast of the Tennessee vs. Alabama game raised more than a few eyebrows.
Does that seem like the Chris Petersen we've all gotten to know over the years? Didn't think so. Red flag alert.
As the Seattle Times points out, Petersen never said anything remotely close to that, and actually the quote was attributed to Petersen via a questionable Twitter account with less than 4,300 followers titled @CFBKings. Of course, the tweet in question has since been deleted.
While it appears CBS was duped by not doing their homework and taking something a stranger tweeted at face value, this is a prime example of how quickly a false narrative can be created off social media. It is something we should all be aware of in order to combat it accordingly.
While Alabama is - of course - undefeated, Washington is sitting at 6-2 with losses to Auburn (Week 1) and a 27-30 overtime loss to Oregon. Remaining on their schedule are trips to Cal and Washington State, and home games against Stanford and Oregon State. Meanwhile, no one is accusing Alabama of stacking their schedule either, with their out of conference games including a neutral site game against Louisville to open the season, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, and The Citadel all at home.
Head over to the Seattle Times to read their full piece, including the exact content of the tweet, and examples of this not being the first time it has happened to Petersen.