Sun Devils given an extra hand

Mack Brown’s stepson got caught in a bizarre play that hurt Texas.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Leave it to the Holiday Bowl — and with a hand from Texas coach Mack Brown’s stepson — to produce a bizarre play like this.

Chris Jessie, a member of his stepfather’s football operations staff, was a few feet on the field and reached out to touch a live ball in the second quarter Thursday night, taking away what would have been a huge turnover for the Longhorns and setting up a touchdown for Arizona State.

Trailing 21-0 and with the ball at the Longhorns’ 15, ASU’s Rudy Carpenter was sacked by linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy and the ball went squirting toward the Longhorns’ sideline.

Jessie was about a yard onto the field and motioning toward a player when he reached down and appeared to touch the ball. Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller slapped the ball away from the sideline and defensive end Aaron Lewis recovered around midfield.

After review, officials ruled that Jessie touched the ball, which is an unsportsmanlike act. Texas was penalized half the distance to the goal, giving the Sun Devils fourth-and-3 at the 7. Carpenter then threw a touchdown pass to Chris McGaha.

The Holiday Bowl has a history of crazy plays and wild finishes.

The best-known play was Jim McMahon’s desperation 41-yard heave that Clay Brown caught in a crowd of defenders with three seconds left to give BYU a 46-45 win in 1980 after the Cougars trailed by 20 with less than three minutes to play.

In 1989, Penn State defensive back Gary Brown — later a running back in the NFL — stripped BYU quarterback Ty Detmer and rumbled 53 yards for a touchdown with 45 seconds left to seal a 50-39 win for the Nittany Lions.

XThursday’s game was not completed in time for this edition. Texas led 45-20 in the fourth quarter.