Vine via Good Bull Hunting
If you win the coin toss, the correct answer is always to defer until the second half. There's pretty much no difference between opening the first or second half with the ball, but if you defer, there's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny chance that the opponent will be so massively stupid that they will choose to kick off, forgetting that you will certainly choose to receive in the second half, thus giving you the ball twice.
Texas was that massively stupid.
So UCLA wins the toss and elects to defer. And then Texas chooses to kickoff. So UCLA will get it twice.
— Bruin Report Online (@BruinReport) September 14, 2014
Charlie Strong is not pleased.
— Bruin Report Online (@BruinReport) September 14, 2014
Jim Mora was seen on the big screen mouthing "We get the ball twice?"
— Bruin Report Online (@BruinReport) September 14, 2014
This is essentially a free turnover, giving the other team the ball when it was rightfully yours. And all the Longhorns had to do to avoid it was say, "we'll receive." If they lose by fewer than eight points, they might wish they had that possession back. [Update: Yep, UCLA won by three.]
This happens about once a year -- last year it was UNC.
@tarheelblog The ref turned off the in-stadium mic as to not embarrass the Texas captains while explaining this.
— Burnt Orange Nation (@BON_SBNation) September 15, 2014