One of the controversial plays in Auburn’s 24-10 victory over Mississippi State was a targeting call that was overturned against Auburn DB Ladarius Tennison.

Tennison hit MSU running back Jo’quavious Marks in the first half on an incomplete pass near the sideline, but the call was reversed.

After the game, coach Mike Leach was asked why the call was reversed.

“If you give me $10,000, I’ll give you the best explanation you’ve ever had in your entire life,” Leach said.

The play ultimately didn’t have a dramatic effect on the game as Auburn held a 6-3 lead at halftime and the game turned on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns by Auburn proved to be the difference after the teams exchanged nothing but field goals through the first three quarters of play.

To Leach, it came down to missed opportunities.

“I thought we missed some opportunities. I thought that we had some self-inflicted wounds,” Leach said. “It’s almost like the worst thing happened at the worst time type of things. We’d move the ball, have a guy wide open and then all of a sudden not protect. Or, we’d protect pretty well and guys would get jammed at the line of scrimmage. I’m sure Will (Rogers) has a couple throws that he’d like to have over again. Some of those were a combination of protection and routes clearing and things like that. We just have to fight through it and improve as a team. Nobody really thought when we started this season that we’d play Auburn nearly this close … In our case, we’re kind of reeling from the disappointment of not playing as well as we could’ve this game.”

Here is a video of the incident: