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College football TV show gets awkward as Peter Burns makes joke about Benjamin Watson's wife

Things got a little tense on SEC Network when Peter Burns made a joke about Benjamin Watson's wife
James Parks|
College football TV show gets awkward as Peter Burns makes joke about Benjamin Watson's wife
College football TV show gets awkward as Peter Burns makes joke about Benjamin Watson's wife

One attempt at a joke on the SEC Network set led to a tense and awkward moment between analysts Peter Burns and Benjamin Watson on Saturday.

It all went down at halftime of the Florida vs. Vanderbilt game. The crew — Burns, Watson, Chris Doeren, and Takeo Spikes — were joking around about the suits they were wearing.

Burns made a comment about Watson's suit being the only light-colored one on set.

"As long as I get a text from my wife that says I look good," Watson said. "Send me the text, baby. Send me the text."

Burns chimed in, saying, "That's not the text she sent me."

That's when it got a little uneasy.

The cameras then moved off the crew, but did catch the reactions on set. Watson was clearly upset by Burns' joke and Doeren went to a commercial break.

When the program returned, only Doeren and Spikes were visible on set, and Watson returned to his seat shortly afterwards. He didn't look happy.

Doeren made a reference to Will Smith's infamous Oscars slap, asking Watson if he told Burns to "keep your wife's name out your mouth."

Watson responded, "Huh?"

Doeren tried to keep things light, but Watson clearly wasn't having it.

Burns and Watson appeared to have spoken off camera and the two were seen after the incident. Burns posted a picture of the two, but Watson didn't look quite as happy as his colleague tried to.

Watson then responded to Burns' tweet, saying that his colleague still owes Mrs. Watson a "public apology."

Time will tell how things end up, though it's safe to say that Benjamin Watson isn't exactly the president of the Peter Burns fan club right now.

Moral of the story: don't talk about another guy's wife. Especially on a national TV show.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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