Congrats to both OU and TAMU for making history!!
Both teams are the first two programs to ever lose home playoff games!
Everyone in the Longhorns nation are so proud of you!
Football rules PSA:
Allow me to provide insight into what I believe is the most misunderstood aspect of officiating/rules.
The "whistle" is irrelevant to the ruling in every situation unless it is erroneous (NFL) or inadvertent (College). In non-erroneous situations, it is simply used to alert everyone that the official has acknowledged the play is dead by rule.
In the specific cases of fumbles or backward passes when incorrectly ruled down by contact or incomplete forward pass, respectively, Replay rules allow the ball to be awarded to the recovering team if that recovery is in the immediate continuing action.
When or if the whistle is sounded is completely irrelevant.
When a backward pass is ruled forward and incomplete, Replay can reverse if there is a clear recovery in the immediate continuing action. The recovering team is awarded the ball at the spot of recovery.
Let me make this perfectly clear: whether a whistle is blown or not is completely irrelevant.