Did he cross the goal line? In 1975, this 4th down play by Baylor was ruled short, giving Michigan the ball back

The game ended in a 14-14 tie pic.twitter.com/QF9nWbF9r4

— Texas Football Life (@txfblife) June 10, 2025

If he wasn't he sure looked like he should have been. Just a lunge forward a bit earlier and seem like he was gonna score.

Prelude to our stopping OkState

At least looks like one of those calls that would've had a good chance of getting over turned had video review been around in those days.

I remember listening to Frank Fallon call that game on the radio (wasn't televised). Bubba Hicks, who was normally a pretty reliable kicker from 40 yards and in, missed a 39 yard winning field goal as time was winding down in the 4th quarter wide right by literally one foot.

BearlyBeloved said:

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Prelude to our stopping OkState

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Except as was proven by the video review, the Ok State runner was clearly short of the goal line.

One thing I noticed on the video is the head linesman ref to the right of the screen is so busy back pedaling to get out of everybodys way, he ends up having a bad sight angle at the end of the play. Had he been looking straight down the goal line it may well have been called a TD.

Johnny Bear said:

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One thing I noticed on the video is the head linesman ref to the right of the screen is so busy back pedaling to get out of everybodys way, he ends up having a bad sight angle at the end of the play. Had he been looking straight down the goal line it may well have been called a TD.

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Also: note there is no pylon at the corner of the end zone. Now if the ball touches or crosses over any part of the pylon it's a TD. The angle of the camera looks like at least his left side crossed the goal line before going out of bounds, but as you said, the linesman was backing away from getting a clear look.

gobears20 said:

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Did he cross the goal line? In 1975, this 4th down play by Baylor was ruled short, giving Michigan the ball back

The game ended in a 14-14 tie pic.twitter.com/QF9nWbF9r4

— Texas Football Life (@txfblife) June 10, 2025

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That was the 1st time Baylor got screwed in that game. The 2nd was a Baylor FG attempt in the 4th qtr that was reportedly good by people who were there, but was called wide by the refs.
Little ole Baylor's not going to the Big House and knock off the mighty Wolverines, the fix was in from the get go.

Hard to see from the camera angle. It depends upon where the runner was holding the ball. It looks like he got in. A pylon would have been nice.

Although it had been experimented with many years before (since 1963), instant replay officially entered the world of college football in 2004 and 2005.

Explaining Instant Replay - National Football Foundation

MrGolfguy said:

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gobears20 said:

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Did he cross the goal line? In 1975, this 4th down play by Baylor was ruled short, giving Michigan the ball back

The game ended in a 14-14 tie pic.twitter.com/QF9nWbF9r4

— Texas Football Life (@txfblife) June 10, 2025

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That was the 1st time Baylor got screwed in that game. The 2nd was a Baylor FG attempt in the 4th qtr that was reportedly good by people who were there, but was called wide by the refs.
Little ole Baylor's not going to the Big House and knock off the mighty Wolverines, the fix was in from the get go.

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Really hard to tell with the angle we are getting here. I think he made it, but I can't see it.

QB kept adjusting his angle further and further to the right, if he had made a hard cut toward the goal line I don't think they could have denied him.

A pylon would have been nice. Good grief, we had them at a 2A Texas HS in the 70's why in heck did these folks not have one.

If there was a pylon, he would've hit it.