Alabama Football: Against Texas ‘worst call ever seen’ wasn’t

Both Alabama football fans and Texas fans have plenty of reason to complain about officiating on Saturday. As there are in many games, there were times when it appeared offensive holding, by both teams, was not called.

Alabama was not called for an apparent face mask penalty on a tackle. On a couple of occasions, pass interference calls on Tide players appeared incorrectly called and incorrectly not called. The tackle by Dallas Turner that injured Quinn Ewers was a clean hit and could have only been avoided if Turner could have stopped in mid-air.

Rising well above all those examples of debatable calls is the incomplete pass by Bryce Young from the Alabama end zone. The Texas football staff was adamant Young should have been called for intentional grounding.

Take a look at the play again in the tweet below.

Seconds after the play an official close to the action threw a flag. The game was stopped for a review, which was presented by announcers to be about targeting and roughing the passer.

After a lengthy review, it was correctly determined there was no targeting. Also explained was that roughing the passer was not called or reviewed. That too was correct.

The play was called an incomplete pass. Understanding why ‘incomplete pass’ was correct takes sorting through multiple key points. One is Bryce Young was not tackled in advance of attempting the pass. As he was being tackled, he rolled over a defender and used his hand to keep his body from hitting the turf.

Though Young was flipped over, he was not down when he made a desperate throw. The pass was deflected by a Texas player, directing it away from any Crimson Tide receiver. Whether Young saw him or not, an eligible receiver, Jase McClellan was standing inside the three-yard line. It was in the direction of McClellan that Young might have been intending to pass.

No more ‘intent’ than that was necessary to make the throw a legitimate pass attempt. In addition, while an illegal forward pass is reviewable, an intentional grounding call is not. But no intentional grounding call was made and there was justification for one. Therefore – there was no safety.

The Big 12 officiating crew might have made many mistakes, but not calling a safety was the correct call.

Alabama Football fans beware of bad information

Why extend the controversy longer by commenting? Simply to clarify what has been repeated misinformation. Former USC Trojan, Reggie Bush was entitled to his opinion when he said about the call, it was,

"Maybe the worst call I’ve ever seen"

But when media sources like ESPN, long after the game, stated a safety should have been called, that misinformation needed another correct explanation.

ESPN, being wrong is understandable. There are many college football fans always ready to demonize the Crimson Tide or diminish any Alabama football accomplishment. From a marketing standpoint, ESPN feeding that demand is good business.

Was Alabama lucky and Texas unlucky on the play? Without a doubt, the answer is yes, but that is all.