Refs save Texas from potential upset with highly questionable spot

Saturday was Houston vs. Texas, and no, we're not talking about the Astros-Rangers ALCS. We're talking about the college football version, with the No. 8 Longhorns playing host to the cross-state Cougars.

The game was equal parts thrilling and nerve-racking. Texas managed a narrow 31-24 victory despite an unfortunate Quinn Ewers injury and a strong fourth-quarter surge from the Cougars, who were 10 yards from the end zone on a critical third-and-one with little more than a minute left on the clock.

Houston appeared to convert for a first-and-goal, well within striking distance of tying the game and forcing overtime, but those pesky referees got in the way. Cougars RB Stacy Sneed made a strong surge toward the line to gain — the nine-yard line — and appeared to break it before forward progress was stopped. But, he received what the broadcast dubbed a "left foot spot," short of first down.

The rest is history.

Texas edges past Houston with help of referee controversy

Look, this is how it was supposed to end. The No. 8-ranked Longhorns are still within striking distance of the postseason. The lowly Cougars now sitting below .500. But, it's a bit disappointing to see the game end on what appears, from every angle, to be a completely avoidable mistake.

The runner clearly crossed the nine-yard line with the ball. Call it forward progress, call it knee down, call it whatever — it looks like a first down. The refs were able to review the call, however, and still ruled in Texas' favor. The Cougars fell short again (or, perhaps more accurately, at last) on fourth-and-inches, sealing the game for Texas.

Of course, it's only natural for claims of conspiracy to trickle out of certain corners of the internet or certain occupants of your living room couch, but sometimes a bad call is a bad call. Sometimes the refs see something we, the humble at-home viewers, do not, and that impacts their judgment — often in a positive way.

Simply put, there's a reason the folks reading (and I, writing) this article are not professionally paid college football referees. It's a tough job and not every call breaks the way it needs to. It's especially unfortunate, however, to end such a high-profile matchup, with huge upset potential, on a botched (or at least extremely murky) call.

Oh, what could have been. So much top-15 chaos has been narrowly avoided this week between the Alabama-Tennessee game, Oklahoma-UCF, and now Houston-Texas. A lot of almost-upsets.

But, in the end, all that really counts is the win or the loss, not how it came to be.