The backlash is certainly coming for Kalen DeBoer, even after the Washington Huskies defeated the Texas Longhorns to advance to the national title game for the 2023 college football season.
His failure to take a knee caused Dillon Johnson to get injured. It also enabled Texas to get the ball back with nearly 45 seconds left instead of only 10 to 15 seconds. That difference in time allowed Texas to nearly pull off a miracle comeback.
Ultimately, Quinn Ewers’ pass as time expired was knocked away incomplete, but DeBoer’s questionable decision was Mario Cristobal-esque in nature.
With time ticking down just inside of one minute and Texas having no timeouts, Washington could have knelt and guaranteed a 40-second runoff after the end of the play. That 40-second runoff, plus four or five seconds to run the third-down play and then five more seconds to execute a punt, would have left Texas with no more than 15 seconds, maybe only 10, and nearly the whole field to go in a game Washington led 37-31.
Instead of taking a knee on third down, however, DeBoer ran a normal running play, and Johnson proceeded to get injured and leave the game. The clock stopped for the injury without a restart. Texas gained over 30 extra seconds because the normal play put an injury in play as a real possibility. Kneeling the ball would have taken the possibility of an injury off the board.
It was a questionable decision, and it will be even more discussed if Johnson isn’t able to play in the title game for Washington against Michigan next Monday.
Kalen DeBoer is a GREAT coach but not taking a knee on third down (win or lose) is just unfathomably foolish. May have lost his back even if he goes to Houston.
— Josh McCuistion (@Josh_Scoop) January 2, 2024
Cristobal did the same thing against Georgia Tech earlier this season in one of the most puzzling meltdowns in the history of college football, and then he had another episode of mismanagement in the Pinstripe Bowl. Cristobal also infamously failed to kneel the ball late in an Oregon loss to Stanford several years ago. An Oregon fumble on a handoff opened the door for Stanford to make a late comeback in Eugene.
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