Texas Had A Safety Get Wiped Out By A Bizarre Review For Targeting That Became An Incomplete Pass

The Texas Longhorns entered Saturday’s game with top-ranked Alabama as three touchdown underdogs, but well into the second half it was clear that this would be anything but an easy day for the Crimson Tide.

Early on it was the young star Quinn Ewers giving Alabama problems as he racked up 134 yards passing in the first quarter before getting knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury late in the opening frame. After that, Texas punched it in from the goal line to tie the game and neither offense could do much more — with the exception of a late second quarter drive that ended in no points after a missed chip shot field goal — leaving the game tied at 10 into the third quarter.

That stalemate was nearly ended with a safety when Bryce Young was apparently sacked in the end zone, but a flag on the play hit Texas with a roughing the passer plus targeting, triggering a review. It was immediately clear that the call was terrible, as Young wasn’t even down with the player comes in and hits him, but as they reminded everyone multiple times, they can’t review the roughing, only the targeting. However, the review dragged on and they came to a unique conclusion that resulted in the safety coming off the board but Alabama not getting a first down.

The result of the lengthy review was to rule that Young was never down and threw the ball away for an incompletion — and because you can’t give a penalty after review, there couldn’t be a grounding call that would’ve resulted in a safety. As such, it was fourth down and Alabama punted it away, ultimately leading to three points for Texas on a field goal.

For the Longhorns, it was still a net positive but it was truly one of the most bizarre penalty calls and reviews that I have ever seen. The roughing call was laughable and Texas probably should’ve gotten two points and the ball with a chance for more, but despite the entire, head-scratching sequence they still ended up with the lead.