Tennessee onside kick vs. Texas was illegal, SEC confirms

The onside kick Tennessee pulled off to nearly complete a miracle comeback vs. Texas on Saturday was illegal, the SEC confirmed on Monday.

As was pointed out in real time by NBC rules analyst Terry McAuley, Tennessee punter Jackson Ross was allowed to drop-kick the ball, but was not allowed to kick from the 34-yard line, nor was he allowed to change positions after the ready-for-play signal. SEC officials allowed him to do both.

Texas led 20-17 with 1:22 left in the game. With the Volunteers out of timeouts, a Longhorns recovery would have ended the game. 

Instead, the ball sputtered away from Texas wide receiver Ryan Wingo, and Tennessee was given an opportunity to extend the contest to overtime or win the game outright in regulation. Vols quarterback Faizon Brandon threw into the end zone as time expired, but Texas safety Jelani McDonald batted away the ball to end the game. 

Making matters worse for the officiating crew, the recovery was not the first time Ross attempted the illegal kick. On the first attempt, Ross kicked the ball to his left (which sputtered out of bounds untouched) but Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian called timeout moments before the kick. The officiating crew initially threw a flag, but picked it up during the timeout. 

As for accountability for the officiating crew that apparently did not know the rules at a critical junction in a conference game? "The Southeastern Conference regrets the error," the league's statement reads.

Needless to say, the league would have done a lot more than regret the error had Tennessee won the game. 

The game was refereed by Kyle Olson, with Rod Tucker as the umpire, Chadwick Green as the linesman, Chris Conway as the line judge, Tom Fimmen as the back judge, John Wisnewski as the field judge, Gordon Everett, Jr., as the side judge, Chris Garner as the center judge, and David Almand as the replay official. FootballScoop has reached out to the SEC if the crew will face any sort of internal punishment or reprimand (while not holding our breath in waiting on a response). In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if Tucker and company are on the schedule again next week. Green, Fimmen and Wisnewski were also part of the crew that failed to catch the "hideout play" that produced a critical touchdown in Oklahoma's 24-17 win over Auburn last season. In that game, Sooners wide receiver Isaiah Setegna walked toward the OU sidelines as if to appear he was leaving the game, but instead "hid" just in front of the sideline, which allowed him to be wide open for a 24-yard touchdown. The SEC said Oklahoma should have been assessed a 15-yard penalty for the play. Instead, the touchdown stood, in a game Oklahoma won by a touchdown. 

"If properly officiated, the second down play should have resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of 15 yards assessed from the previous spot," the SEC said then (the same day that time, not the following Monday). "Appropriate accountability will be applied without additional comment."

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