Washington tried to go into halftime with an almost insurmountable lead over Oregon in the Pac-12 title game, but a flag in the final minute helped make things a little closer on Friday night.
With Oregon on the Washington 24-yard line with 52 seconds left, Bo Nix heaved up a floater down the left sideline that appeared well out of the reach of receiver Troy Franklin.
But after the ball fell into the end zone, a flag came in and Huskies cornerback Jabbar Muhammad was called for pass interference.
Both players did appear to have their arms over each other, but Muhammad contended that the ball was uncatchable.
The officials saw things differently, and the penalty put the Ducks inside Washington’s 10-yard line.
On third-and-goal, Nix and Oregon finally cashed in when he flipped a two-yard pass to Terrance Ferguson for a touchdown, helping the Ducks cut the lead to 20-10, which remained the score entering halftime.
During a sideline interview after the second quarter, Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer did not seem to agree with the call.
“The ball is that far out of bounds, just ease off. But it looked pretty uncatchable to me,” the Washington head coach said.
Social media seemed mixed about if the correct call was made or not.
“TD scored after this too, horrendous,” wrote one user on X.
“Ball was uncatchable by 15 yards, but have a TD Oregon,” wrote another.
Nevertheless, at least one user believed there was a reason the play looked so uncatchable.
“When you grab a guy so he can’t run full speed the throw often looks uncatchable,” the user wrote.
Whether or not the call was right, Oregon got back in the game, but ultimately, Nix could not get the Ducks over the hump in a 34-31 loss to Washington.
Michael Penix, the game’s MVP, finished with 319 yards and a touchdown, while Nix tossed three touchdowns, completing 21 of 34 passes for 239 yard.
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