On Saturday, the Texas Longhorns narrowly won against the Tennessee Volunteers. The Longhorns were just one blunder away from a turnout different from the 20-17 score. However, the officials’ call on a debatable kickoff from the Volunteers has become one of the biggest talking points from the showdown.
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With 1:22 remaining and the then-No. 14 Vols down 17-20 against the No. 1 Longhorns at Neyhard Stadium, punter Jackson Ross executed a smooth drop-kick onside kick. Though it went to a Texas player, a misstep by the Longhorns’ special teams allowed the Volunteers to recover the ball. This moment had the potential to flip the game in the host’s favor, but not before the integrity of the game, marred by other penalties, was questioned.
Former NFL official Terry McAulay shared the rules in an X post, pointing out how Ross’ kick was illegal.
“This is illegal on a kickoff. The ball must be kicked on the restraining line, the 35 yard line here,” McAulay wrote. “There is an exception for safety kicks, but not a kickoff.”
While Ross’ drop-kick was legal, where he did it on the pitch was not. Instead of kicking from the 35-yard line, he was well behind when he dropped the ball to the ground and kicked it.
The ball then nearly landed in the arms of Longhorns’ wide receiver Ryan Wingo. After he failed to secure the ball, it rolled away from him. As both teams dashed to clutch it, Arion Carter, Volunteers’ linebacker, leaped on it and recovered the ball at their own 49-yard line.
Since the ball must be kicked exactly from the 35-yard line, viewers online started to engage in a heated discourse. The rule McAulay referred to was Article 2a of Free Kick Formation, which ruled that “a ball from a free kick formation must be kicked legally and from some point on Team A’s retaining line (Exception: Rule 6-12-c-4) and on or between hash marks.”
He then shared a screenshot of another rule that highlighted how the ball may be kicked from behind the restraining line only after a safety. After this post caught attention, Danny Kannell, a former FSU quarterback and analyst, shared his disbelief over the kickoff.
“Can you imagine if Tenn won and they didn’t catch this??? While I was watching I thought “Can you do that?” And the answer is – No,” he added to the discussion online on X.
Officials had initially thrown a flag on the Volunteers’ subsequent recovered kick, but picked it up without an explanation.
“We took the time out to see what their alignment was,” said Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said post-game before adding, “we need to get a ruling on how they kicked it because there’s a lot of gray area in that, and obviously one of the officials thought it was a foul and threw it. They ended up picking it up, so I’ve got to get a ruling on that because that was a bit unique walking into a drop kick like that. But again, I’ve got to look at it. I only have the one shot in real time like you guys had, so we’ll see.”
Tennessee was trailing 20-10 in the final quarter before QB Faizon Brandon completed a 30-yard pass to WR Mike Matthews for a touchdown. Unfortunately, after the failed final play, the game was eventually ruled in the Longhorns’ favor.