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Virginia Tech Recover After ‘Worst’ Roughing the Passer Penalty Fans Have Ever Seen
Virginia Tech beat Cal 42-34 in double-overtime on Friday night. The Hokies had a chance to put the game away near the end of regulation, but a questionable roughing the passer call extended a drive for the Golden Bears and allowed them to tie the game with 2:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Virginia Tech held a 27-20 lead with under three minutes remaining with Cal facing third-and-goal from the five-yard line. Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele faked a handoff and looked for someone to throw the ball to. As he moved around behind the line the Hokies defense converged on Sagapolutele with defensive linemen Aycen Stevens and Ben Bell meeting at the quarterback.
Sagapolutele was scked and fumbled. The fumbled was recovered by Cal, but instead of facing fourth down a flag was thrown for roughing the passer. Cal got a first down, the ball was spotted at the two and they scored a touchdown on the very next play.
Virginia Tech is called for roughing the passer
— Carter 🦡🐻 (@cfbvideo) October 25, 2025
That was not the right call#GoBears #Calgorithm #Hokies pic.twitter.com/dpCJmM0QBC
Was it a hard hit? Sure. But roughing the passer on a quarterback who still had the ball in the pocket? Most viewers seemed to agree it was one of the worst calls of the season, if not ever.
Might be the worst roughing the passer call of the season.
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) October 25, 2025
As an objective ball watcher, that roughing the passer penalty against Virginia Tech is the worst call I’ve ever seen.
— Jake Malasek (@jakemalasek) October 25, 2025
Virginia Tech literally just got penalized for making a legal tackle 🤡 show
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 25, 2025
at the game... probably the worst penalty I've ever seen live in my entire life
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 25, 2025
in no world is that roughing the passer against Virginia Tech
Luckily, it all worked out in the end for the Hokies as they won their third game of the season and snapped a two-game losing streak.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.