Tennessee fan's on-screen reactions go viral after overtime loss to Georgia

A longtime University of Tennessee football fan has gone viral after his on-screen reactions during Saturday's overtime loss to Georgia at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. The fan, later identified as Jeff Comeaux, lives in the same city as the school and became the subject of a social-media storm after the broadcast captured his rollercoaster of emotions.

During ABC's telecast, Comeaux was shown multiple times on the jumbotron, depicting him crossing his arms in disappointment, hiding his face with his hands, and gripping the railing as the Volunteers wilted in overtime.

After the game, he said he received hundreds of texts, including one from a manager who was unhappy he had called in sick to attend. "I got to a point where I was like, you know what, the best thing to do is I'm just gonna call in sick today. And I got Coldplayed," Comeaux told WBIR.

Memes circulated widely online, with Georgia and Tennessee fans remixing the moment and even photoshopping different jerseys onto the clip. The footage aired on ABC, helping the moment reach a national audience and turning Comeaux into a social-media fixture in the wake of the loss.

Comeaux has long followed the Vols; he said he used to attend every rivalry game at Neyland, but stopped buying tickets around 2002. The only game he missed in the 12 years he had season tickets was Tennessee's overtime upset of then-No. 2 Florida in 1998, a victory that helped propel the Volunteers to the national championship that season.