On Tuesday, On3’s Pete Nakos published an interesting story that is making headlines on social media. Titled “Worst Officiating Calls of 2024 College Football Season,” Nakos gathered the 10 worst officiating mistakes of the 2024 season and presented them in ranked fashion, from No. 10 down to No. 1.
There were some pretty terrible calls throughout the list, many of which had game-changing implications. But, once the reader arrived at the end of the list, it was obvious that this particular call stood out above the rest.
Anyone who watched the 2025 Peach Bowl thriller between Arizona State and Texas knows that the biggest blown call of the season came late in the fourth quarter of that game — and it almost assuredly robbed the Sun Devils of a monumental upset.
In a 24-24 ballgame, and one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt connected with Melquan Stovall for a 10-yard gain, and the play ended with an abrupt helmet-to-helmet collision from Texas safety Michael Taaffe.
Stovall was down for several minutes while medical staff attended to him and officials took a chance to review the play.
Matt Austin, ESPN’s rules expert for the game, noted that the play “definitely has a defenseless receiver” and that just after he catches the ball and turns, Stovall “gets hit in the head by the defender.”
“I would not be surprised if this was called targeting from the booth,” Austin concluded.
Texas was never flagged for the hit, however, and would go on to win the game 39-31 in double overtime, and naturally, the hit went viral.
“My phone has been burning up all morning,” Gene Steratore wrote on X. “Yes, this should have been a flag for targeting in Texas vs. Arizona State. It meets all of the criteria of targeting (Rule 9-1-4).”
“As a member of the College Football Playoff management committee, I have had multiple discussions seeking clarity surrounding the targeting call on Arizona State’s final drive of the 4th quarter with Richard Clark,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement. “Moving forward, we need to address CFP officiating to ensure national standards are developed. These standards will be crucial to the CFP’s future, and I look forward to discussing them with my fellow committee members when we meet next.”
Officiating a college football game is about as thankless a job that exists, but in moments like this one, the call is clear and obvious and just has to be made. Unfortunately, for Arizona State, it wasn’t.
It certainly put a damper on the outcome of the game, but the Sun Devils still turned in one of the most remarkable seasons in recent memory and should have a chance to right this wrong with a strong contingent of their roster returning for 2025.
