​‘Clearly and Obviously a Complete Pass’ — Rules Analyst Makes Feelings Clear on Controversial Arch Manning Call in Texas-MissouriRules analyst Terry McAulay took issue with the fumble ruling on Arch Manning’s third-quarter throw in No. 7 Texas’ 34-20 win at No. 18 Missouri on Saturday. The call survived replay review and gave the Longhorns a first down on their game-tying drive.Texas trailed 20-13 when the play unfolded late in the third quarter, and the Longhorns scored the game’s final 21 points from there. The SEC has since explained why the call stood, while Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz declined to blame the officials for a loss that dropped the Tigers to 6-3.How the Arch Manning Ruling Unfolded and Why Terry McAulay DisagreesTexas faced third-and-10 from the Missouri 39 with 2:22 left in the third quarter when Manning was hit on his right arm as he looked to throw downfield, and the ball came out and hit the turf past the line of scrimmage.With no incompletion ruled on the field, Texas receiver Emmett Mosley V scooped up the loose ball at the Missouri 25, four yards beyond the first-down marker.During the review, play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore asked, “Are they saying this is not a forward pass and instead a fumble?!” The ruling was upheld. An incompletion would have left Texas at fourth-and-10 from the Missouri 39, still down seven.BUILD THE CFP FIELD:PFN’s Free CFB Playoff PredictorMcAulay weighed in on the sequence that the review turned on.“This is clearly and obviously an incomplete pass,” he wrote. “He loses control after the hand moves forward.”That timing matters under college football’s rule book, which says “any intentional forward movement of the passer’s hand with the ball firmly in their control starts the forward pass.” So the ruling came down to whether Manning still had firm control of the ball when his arm started forward.The SEC’s explanation focused on that same question. “The ruling on the field was a fumble,” an SEC official wrote in an email to the Columbia Daily Tribune after the game. “In replay review it was determined there was not clear and obvious video evidence that he had firm control of the ball when the hand intentionally started forward in order to overturn the call.”The Tribune also reported that a side judge appeared to signal the play dead once the ball hit the turf, before Mosley picked it up, and the SEC had not answered its follow-up about that signal when the paper published.Eli Drinkwitz Declines to Blame Officials as Texas Pulls AwayTexas made the most of the new set of downs, and Missouri, which had not trailed all afternoon, never scored again. Three plays after the ruling, Manning hit Jermaine Bishop Jr. for a 25-yard touchdown that tied the game at 20. Pro Football Network’s CFB QB Impact Score has Manning at 72.9 this season, tied for 96th of 176 qualified FBS quarterbacks.Drinkwitz congratulated Texas coach Steve Sarkisian at the start of his p