Texas Football: Controversial call overshadows Longhorns' mistakes in loss at Cal

The final moments of Saturday’s game will likely be playing through the minds of fans for quite some time. Texas football was in a position to win a back-and-forth shootout on the road against Cal. Then the drama started.

Late in the fourth quarter, Texas made the unusual decision to punt down 50-43. With the Horns out of timeouts, Texas put the game on the backs of their beleaguered defense. Cal running back Vic Enwere ran right up the middle all the way down field for what appeared to be the exclamation point on the Bears win. However, replay would show he dropped the ball BEFORE crossing the goal line.

A Twitter user posted a screen grab of the play, clearly showing the ball out of Ewer’s hands before crossing the line.

Oh boy…. pic.twitter.com/0Ijdp7E8UK

— Emily Van Buskirk (@Emilnem) September 18, 2016

The play was reviewed and officials determined that no “immediate recovery” was made after he dropped the ball, therefore Cal would keep possession and run out the clock. But if you look at the play again, you can clearly see a Texas player pick up the ball – right away in fact.

The late call (or lack of one) was not the only reason Texas lost the game, of course. It had more to do with poor defense. The Horns had no answer for the screen plays from the Bears, as several Cal receivers were left wide open multiple times.

Texas’ secondary is young and has some inexperience, which is normal. The fact the team letting Cal do what they wanted through the air, despite knowing what was coming is the real issue. With the Big 12 schedule coming after the bye week, this will need to be addressed.

Ultimately, Texas fans have plenty of reason to be frustrated and disappointed following this game. The refs simply end up as an easy punching bag following such a glaringly terrible call to end the game.

Texas’ 2-0 start had everyone thinking the Longhorns are back and maybe they are. That doesn’t mean they still don’t have work to do. It will be interesting to see if that work pays off next time they hit the field.