ESPN’s Andre Ware blasts Tulsa defender celebrating dropped pass

Andre Ware is widely regarded as one of the greatest collegiate quarterbacks in the history of the sport. But on Friday, his past as an offensive-minded player may very well have poured into his current work as a broadcaster at ESPN, taking exception to a celebration from a Tulsa player celebrating a pass he defended intended for an Oklahoma State wide receiver.

With 2:32 remaining in the the second quarter of Friday’s matchup, Oklahoma State quarterback Zane Flores attempted to complete a pass to senior receiver Christian Fitzpatrick. But instead, the pass was bobbled by Fitzpatrick before Tulsa safety Zach Williams came in to hit Fitzpatrick, ensuring that he did not catch the pass.

Williams got up, celebrating his effort in helping break up the pass alongside his teammate, Tulsa cornerback Elijah Green, who was also in the vicinity of the play. And immediately, this drew the ire of Ward, who explained how he has “never understood” why defensive backs celebrated on plays where wide receivers simply dropped the ball.

“I never understood why defensive backs, I never understood it as a player either. Why do they get up and celebrate when a guy drops a pass?” asked Ward. “They were beaten. And it wasn’t because of anything they did. He just dropped the ball. And they get up celebrating like they caused it. It’s kind of like a layup. Pretend you have been there before.”

It certainly seems like a pretty big misrepresentation of how impactful Zach Williams was on the play, as he did help lodge the ball loose as Fitzpatrick attempted to bring the pass in, which many viewers watching the game took notice of.

While I agree with Andre in principle, on this play, the DB actually did break up the pass

— Jeff/Herbert von Solti (@JeffSolti) September 20, 2025

Either way, Ware clearly believes that the celebration was a bit Bush League from Williams and Green, regardless of whether his actual assessment of what happened on the play was accurate or not.