diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 5c431dadae..c3d3708352 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -381,11 +381,15 @@ def role_spec_parse(role_spec):
     # }
   
     role_spec = role_spec.strip()
-    role_version = 'master'
+    role_version = ''
     if role_spec == "" or role_spec.startswith("#"):
         return (None, None, None, None)
 
     tokens = [s.strip() for s in role_spec.split(',')]
+    
+    if not tokens[0].endswith('.tar.gz'): 
+        # pick a reasonable default branch
+        role_version = 'master'
 
     # assume https://github.com URLs are git+https:// URLs and not
     # tarballs unless they end in '.zip'
diff --git a/test/units/TestUtils.py b/test/units/TestUtils.py
index 1c82e353ef..08fb037009 100644
--- a/test/units/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/units/TestUtils.py
@@ -829,7 +829,7 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
                 {
                     'scm' : 'git',
                     'src' : 'http://github.com/ansible/fakerole/fake',
-                    'version' : '', 
+                    'version' : 'master', 
                     'name' : 'fake'
                 }
             ),