what almost everyone has overlooked was the fact that it was a crucial 3rd down play. from the sidelines it appeared that UT had stopped them by knocking the QB down, forcing an incomplete pass, and an intentional grounding penalty, which would have forced 4th and very long or a long FG attempt.
then as the sideline was coming to congratulate the players, they realized.........hey that ball is still live, get back, get back......the whistle hadn't blown yet, and the hit on the QB forced a lateral, not a pass. The big key is forced. The momentum of the hit forced the QB to release the ball....it was a great hit. Also because the ball was forced backwards, this is why the ref picked up the flag for intentional grounding (which definitely ended up being good news ASU).
Then after the officials picked up the flag, and moved the ball down the field, they stopped it again and realized that the Texas coach may have touched the ball. Since UT had already received a sideline warning, they were guilty again. That coach did not touch the ball. However, he was guilty of possibly altering a live play by being on the field. The refs decided he touched the ball, which killed the play. He was assessed a penalty for it.
so instead of it being 4th and long for ASU at the UT 30 or so, or 1st down for UT at the ASU 40, it ended up being 4th and 3 at the UT 7.
It was definitely a bizarre play.............but in the end UT showed some Big 12 muscle and whooped up on the Pac 10 yet again.
let's go A&M, Mizzou, OU, OSU, KU, KSU, and TT