After reading this thread, my opinions are pretty much as follows:
1) The targeting call, though it sucked, was legitimate largely because targeting as written means guys are going to get tossed for making solid plays which aren't dirty in any way due to such factors as height differences, muscle reflexes in real time, etc. The recent targeting call on the muffed punt is a perfect example because any defender would make that move when they see the ball on the ground and there is no way to go for the ball in that situation without helmet contact.
2) Grantham is definitely capable of being a massive jerk (see UGA clip above) and having him on your staff comes with some baggage. To me he is kind of the Dennis Rodman of defensive coordinators meaning he can be a significant and unnecessary distraction from time to time, he'll breed outright hatred from other teams with his ongoing antics, and you'll be super glad to have him on your team anyway because, despite all the baggage, he still gets the job done in a huge way.
3) Joseph's first unsportsmanlike penalty was totally justified because the play was being blown dead and he made an unnecessary effort to slam the guy to the turf right in front of the ref. It was an impressive move, but it was a dumb play in the heat of the moment because that'll be called 100% of the time especially in these days of player safety.
4) The SEC's unsportsmanlike penalty rule for entire teams is ridiculous! The potential immense impact this call can have on an emotional game where several players have been assessed is mind blowing. It also gives the refs way to much power to create a potential forfeit for one or both teams resulting in a complete game cancellation if they get too sensitive about the emotions boiling over in an SEC game (of course that never happens...
). I believe this rule will likely be amended this off-season after the warning the UF/Vandy game may have sent regarding the catastrophic possibilities of two unsportsmanlike penalties being issued against a team. Can you imagine what would happen if this came up a couple of times in the LSU/Bama game? How would they deal with it if both those teams were disqualified in the middle of a tied game in terms of figuring out the playoffs?
5) Joseph's ejection was totally bogus because it was a lazy call to assess the whole team when it was very clear from the pictures posted that he did everything right in staying on the sideline and out of the fray to insure no one could assess him with a 2nd penalty. No wonder he lost it after being ejected!! To show that level of maturity in the heat of the battle when Vandy's coach was past midfield and actively challenging our staff and team should be lauded not penalized. The refs in this game were some of the worst I've seen and, in the SEC, that is saying a lot! I will be very interested to see how this plays out this week because these refs lost complete control of this game and handled the situation as badly as possible. Thankfully they also motivated our team showing once again how far this team has come in dealing with adversity!