Nebraska hasn’t scored an overtime point since Bo Pelini ran the show in Lincoln. But according to Tim Brando and Devin Gardner, the Cornhuskers should’ve gotten another chance to do so during their 31-24 loss to Illinois on Friday night.
After a false start and two sacks to begin its chance to tie the Fighting Illini and send the Big Ten matchup to a second overtime, Dylan Raiola completed a 13-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jahmal Banks on a 3rd-and-42. While the Cornhuskers were trying to get to a manageable spot on fourth down where Raiola would be setting up shop from the parking lot, there should’ve been an extra 15 yards tacked onto the play.
That’s because after Banks was already hit and was in the process of stepping out of bounds, two Illinois defenders converged on him again. While it might’ve been a bit of acting on Banks’ part, it was perceived as a late hit out of bounds. Nebraska’s sideline erupted, thinking that a 15-yard penalty was thrown, which would’ve resulted in a first down.
The referees felt otherwise.
But Brando and Gardner called it as they saw it.
“That should’ve been a flag,” claimed the ex-Michigan quarterback.
“Should’ve been,” added Brando. “It should’ve been a flag.”
“And that’s the one thing I’m talking about,” said Gardner, “that’s gonna give an automatic first down if they throw that flag. And it wasn’t a super hard hit, but you just don’t want to do it…”
“That should have been a flag.”
“Should have been. It should have been a flag.”
Devin Gardener and Tim Brando think that Illinois got away with one in OT of Saturday’s win vs. Nebraska. pic.twitter.com/SXgKD66XUl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 21, 2024
To play devil’s advocate here, it would’ve been a soft flag. We can argue the semantics of the call and the by-the-book definition of a late hit out of bounds, but the truth is that Banks, the ball carrier, turned downfield as if he was still trying to fight for extra yards.
If we want to argue about a flag being called, Illinois junior defensive back Xavier Scott’s helmet made contact with that of Banks. Again, he didn’t launch himself as the Nebraska wideout, but his head was down. You could certainly make the argument more for the targeting than you could for a late hit.
It’s a bang-bang play in real-time, and giving the Cornhuskers a new set of downs instead of a 4th-and-29 would be hard to justify. Perhaps if the penalty wasn’t an automatic first down and instead put Nebraska in a 4th-and-14, it’d be an easier pill to swallow, but it seems like a good no-call.
It also depends on what team you’re rooting for, too. Judging by the responses on X (formerly Twitter), Nebraska fans want the referees’ heads on a pike, while Illinois fans felt they made the right call. As for Brando and Gardner, they fall somewhere in between. It was the broadcast booth’s perspective that it was a late hit, but you also have to remember that Gardner is a former quarterback himself.
Whatever the call should’ve been, it’s nice to see Fox’s college football announcers unafraid to challenge the refs, even if they didn’t ultimately get their way.
