By Asif Malik
The Big 12 admitted early Sunday that its officials blew the ending of Saturday night’s game between No. 8 BYU and No. 2 Notre Dame, saying the Fighting Irish should have had one more second — and one more play — with a chance to win it.
“Following the Big 12’s review of the final play of Saturday’s Notre Dame-BYU game, it was determined that time remained on the clock when the ball hit the ground, and the play was incorrectly cleared by the replay officiating crew,” the conference said in a statement. “The Conference will conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process in advance of next week’s games.”
The final play came with Notre Dame at the BYU 8-yard line, trailing 28-24. Quarterback CJ Carr threw toward Jaden Greathouse in the end zone; the pass fell incomplete as the clock hit zero. But replays showed one second remained when the ball hit the ground — and the replay crew cleared the play instead of restoring the time.
Had the second been restored, Notre Dame would have had one more snap from the 8, with a touchdown winning the game.
The no-call on contact between Greathouse and BYU defender Evan Johnson also drew scrutiny. ESPN rules analyst Matt Austin said during the broadcast he thought it warranted a pass interference flag. FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira said it was obvious a second remained and Notre Dame deserved another play.
BYU coach Kalani Sitake said after the game he immediately thought the Cougars had won — and even believed Carr’s final throw had come on fourth down. It hadn’t; Carr had converted fourth down one snap earlier.
The win moved BYU to 6-0.
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