SAN DIEGO (AP) – Leave it to the Holiday Bowl – and with a hand from Texas coach Mack Brown’s stepson – to produce a bizarre play like this.
Chris Jesse, a member of his stepfather’s football operations staff, was a few feet on the field and touched a live ball in the second quarter Thursday night, taking away what would have been a huge turnover for the Longhorns and setting up a touchdown for Arizona State.
Trailing 21-0 and with the ball at the Longhorns’ 15, ASU’s Rudy Carpenter was sacked by linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy and the ball went squirting toward the Longhorns’ sideline.
Jesse was about a yard onto the field and motioning toward a player when he reached down and appeared to touch the ball. Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller slapped the ball away from the sideline and defensive end Aaron Lewis recovered around midfield.
After review, officials ruled that Jesse’s action was an unsportsmanlike act. Texas was penalized half the distance to the goal, giving the Sun Devils fourth-and-3 at the 7. Carpenter then threw a touchdown pass to Chris McGaha.
The Holiday Bowl has a history of crazy plays and wild finishes.
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