Fury Erupts Among College Football Fans as Referee Nearly Erases QB’s Perfect TD

College football has a way of flipping from serious to slapstick in the blink of an eye. See, going into the SMU vs Baylor game, we were quite excited. After all, this is a storied showdown 125 years in the making, with Baylor holding a narrow edge in the all-time series—39 wins to SMU’s 36, plus 7 ties—and a 13-game winning streak stretching from 1989 to 2016. So returning to the roots meant some solid, high-stakes, drive-fueled game. Or so we thought. We have seen plenty of clips of head coaches getting pancaked on the sidelines because of not being aware of the refs running around or because of simply being too focused on the game. But this time around, the story is a bit different.

3rd quarter, 11:51 on the clock, and SMU is at their 1st & 10. QB Kevin Jennings decided to run a simple pocket play, but what happened? He runs back and gets tripped by a ref standing on his left. “Kevin Jennings nearly got sacked by the ref 😭” Elite College Football shared on their IG. Fans couldn’t believe what just happened. “Like no way he don’t hurry up and get out the way,” one fan wrote under the IG post. If you think about it, it did ruin Jennings’ shot at a TD pass. He was wide open, his O-line was doing its job, and he had receivers lined up at the 20-yard line, but oh well.

This intervention opened up the field for Baylor to tie the score at 24-24 by the end of the 3rd quarter, but Jennings is out here showing a masterclass in playing under center. 13 completions on 17 attempts with close to 250 yards on the board and 2 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, on the Bears’ side? Things are a bit rocky. Sawyer Robertson is doing good, see he’s a big guy and as ESPN’s Bill Connelly pointed out, “over the course of 2024, Robertson might have been the conference’s best.”  But will this be enough to handle the Mustangs?

That ref part was just a minor setback, and SMU has managed to bounce back quite well, honestly. They stay on the lead with a 38-27 game, just waiting to take back a win for old rivalry’s sake. However, all of that doesn’t mean the fans have forgotten about the ref tripping shenanigan.

Kevin Jennings gets sacked by a ref?

“Why was it not blown down?” is a fair question raised by one of the fans, but the answer is quite simple. Jennings went down but got up fast and made the throw. It wasn’t a “sack” because come on? Who would get awarded that sack? The ref?

However, another fan did chime in, raising another important point. “I feel like they should’ve replayed first down,” they wrote. It makes sense because from a different camera angle, it did look like a fumble, but then again, who even gets credited for the fumble? It ain’t the QB’s fault if, as one fan points out, “Official didn’t even try to move.”

See, this ain’t even the first time we have seen someone get messed up by a ref. Remember Brian Kelly getting pancacked? Watching that just felt bad but yet here we are. All of this ultimately raises the question of whether referees should be paying more attention, but unless the NCAA steps in and takes action, all people can do is express their disagreement.