HOUSTON, TX -- The Texas Longhorns survived the Houston Cougars on Saturday night at TDECU Stadium, thanks in large part to a huge fourth down stop by the defense in the closing minutes of action.
However, that fourth down was set up by a controversial third down spot on the previous play, in which many - including the FOX broadcast crew - believed that Houston had reached the line to gain, and should have been granted a first down.
And Houston coach Dana Holgorsen might have been more upset than anyone, voicing his displeasure with the call to the media after the game.
“I think the spot was horrible. I think we got the first down," Holgorsen said. "I don’t understand review. Every time I think something’s reviewable, I can’t get them to review it. They say they’re looking at it, but I don’t know that. Somebody’s just confirmed it’s as bad as I think it is.”
So if the call was so bad, why didn't Holgorsen review the play?
Apparently, he was told that the ball carrier was confirmed to be short, so Holgorsen elected not to use a timeout.
"They say they're reviewing it and it is confirmed," Holgorsen said. "What else am I going to do?... I'm not going to waste a timeout if they say it's confirmed. I don't understand it."
On the following play, Holgorsen called a short pass to the right in an attempt to reach the first down sticks.
That pass would ultimately fall short, resulting in a turnover on downs, and giving Texas the ball back. The Horns would go on to take a knee and win the game.
“4th and 2’s are hard to get," Holgorsen said. "Thought we had the right play call, just didn’t execute the play."
That said, Holgorsen is not taking anything away from the Texas team that he saw on the field on Saturday.
In fact, he believes this iteration of the Horns to be the best Texas team he has seen since the turn of the century.
"I think this is the best Texas team I've seen in 22 years," Holgorsen said.
The Longhorns now move to 6-1 after the win and rank No. 7 in the country heading into the next weekend's matchup with BYU.
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