Touchdown or Just Short? Controversial Backyard Brawl Play Featured in CFB 26 Trailer

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated May 29, 2025 11:26 AM ET

Thursday morning, the official trailer for the College Football 26 video game dropped, and at about the 1:11 mark, EA Sports briefly highlighted the Backyard Brawl rivalry between West Virginia and Pitt.

In the clip, Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein was rushing toward the end zone when he was met by what appears to be new Mountaineer safety Fred Perry, who followed Rich Rodriguez over from Jacksonville State.

Pitt's social media team quoted the tweet just simply putting "In the game," but WVU's social team responded with a little jab, stating that the play was not a touchdown for the Panthers.

IN THE GAME‼️ https://t.co/3qz8DXKzxD
— Pitt Panthers (@Pitt_ATHLETICS) May 29, 2025

And down at the 2 ‍♂️ https://t.co/BZNNMmsX3x pic.twitter.com/b3h0xNXopb
— WVU Sports (@WVUSports) May 29, 2025

I'll be honest, I've watched the clip probably more times than I should have, trying to decide if this was a touchdown or not. It's a trailer of a video game, so it doesn't really matter, but hey, it's May, and who doesn't like a little Backyard Brawl controversy of every form?

The screenshot WVU shared appears as if Holstein is down short of the goal line, but the vision of his knee is blocked by Perry's body. When the camera angle changes to show the other angle, it looks as if Holstein's knee was never close to touching the ground. You know what happens in that instance...go with the call on the field. Unfortunately, we don't know what the call on the field was, so maybe we'll have to reach out to EA Sports to get some clarity on this.