Tennessee’s successful onside kick was illegal

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As the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers tried to mount an improbable comeback against the No. 1 Texas Longhorns on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, the key play that gave the Volunteers an opportunity to tie or take a late lead was the successful onside kick with 1:22 remaining that went through the hands of Longhorns junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo.

Executed by Australian punter Jackson Ross, a former Aussie Rules football player who can kick with both feet, the big play was a drop kick that came after LSU initially tried it in the opposite direction as Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian called a timeout.

“We took the time out to see what their alignment was,” Sarkisian said.

The officials threw a flag on the subsequent kick that Tennessee recovered, but picked it up without explanation.

Sarkisian wanted one after the game.

“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,” Sarkisian said. “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.”

Former official and rules analyst Terry McAulay was clear about the play — it was illegal because Ross kicked it from behind the 35-yard line.

Fortunately for the Longhorns, the Volunteers weren’t able to take advantage of the final possession despite benefitting from a face-mask penalty against Texas on a sack on 3rd and 19 as Faizon Brandon’s pass into the end zone as time expired was broken up by senior safety Jelani McDonald.

By the rule book, it shouldn’t have come to that.

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