No. 2: Texas gets away with a pass interference
Moving to the second half, the Red Raiders had pulled to within three points at 31-28 after recovering a muffed UT punt in the endzone on the first drive after the intermission. Then, Tech forced a Longhorn punt on the ensuing possession.
But on Tech’s second offensive opportunity of the third quarter, Texas got away with a blatant pass interference that proved to be massive because of what happened on the very next play.
On 3rd-and-6 at the Tech 23, Alan Bowman tried to connect with T.J. Vasher, who ran a slant route inside of UT safety Kaden Sterns. On the play, Sterns was beaten so he reached around Vasher’s waist and essentially tackled him. However, there was no flag thrown.
And in case one accuses Tech fans of being biased when it comes to this no-call, the television broadcast crew of Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman were also rather surprised that no flag was dropped on the play.
But what made this play so costly was what happened on 4th down. That’s when the Longhorns blocked Austin McNamara‘s punt and returned it for a touchdown to restore the 10-point lead that they had entering halftime.
On the one hand, we can’t complain about the way this game was officiated. That’s because Texas was penalized 10 times for 100 yards while Tech was flagged just four times for 15 yards. When was the last time the Red Raiders had such an edge in the penalty department over the Longhorns?
But this was a call that the officials simply blew. There was no excuse for this egregious no-call and it proved to not only kill a Red Raider drive, but it also forced Tech to punt near its own goal line, which enticed the Longhorns to come after the kick, and not only did they send the house, they nearly took the ball right off of McNamara’s foot.