Maybe the BYU Cougars being a religious school can pay some dividends.
The Cougars have benefited from a very fortunate run of officiating in recent weeks. At home against the then-No. 2 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, BYU pulled off a stunning upset. Thanks in small part to yet another controversial literal last second clock call this college football season.
Quarterback Bear Bachmeier found tight end Walker Lyons with 1:47 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Cougars a 28-24 lead, putting Notre Dame’s winning streak in jeopardy. The Irish drove down the field, converting a six-yard pass on fourth-and-5 to give themselves one last shot at the end zone from the 8-yard line with four seconds left. C.J. Carr’s pass fell incomplete, and fans stormed the field.
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Except, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the stadium game clock clearly read 0:01 as the ball hit the turf. And the Big 12 Conference acknowledged they were right, and that Notre Dame should have had time for one last play.
“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,” they explained in a statement. “The Conference will conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process in advance of next week’s games.”
Yes, BYU may still have stopped the Irish and won the game anyway, but it was a clear officiating mistake that benefited the Cougars. It happened again the next week.
On the road at UCF, BYU found themselves locked in a tight game late in the fourth quarter against what should have been an overmatched opponent. With the game tied 24-24 and 11 seconds left, the Knights set up for a field goal attempt on third down. Kicker Will Stone’s attempted was blocked without crossing the line of scrimmage, and Stone recovered it himself.
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As he was tackled, his helmet came off, with the officials throwing a flag for a BYU facemask. Which they promptly picked up. Not only that, they then incorrectly applied a 10-second runoff for the helmet coming off. As rules analysts explained, that runoff is only required when the helmet coming off is the reason for the clock stoppage. But the clock also stopped because of a “legal kick down,” per Terry McAulay, meaning that the runoff should not have been applied.
Instead of UCF having another opportunity at a game-winning field goal, the game went to overtime. That said, the Cougars did wind up losing in double overtime anyway, thanks in part to some less-than-beneficial officiating. As Stone made a field goal to go up 34-31, BYU’s Kendall Wall was flagged for roughing the kicker. Instead of the Cougars needing just a field goal to tie the score, UCF converted the ensuing first-and-goal for a touchdown, making the two-point conversion as well.
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BYU had four tries from the four-yard-line, but came up empty, and the Knights pulled off the upset. Still, there’s a case to be made that the game may never have reached overtime in the first place, had the rules been correctly applied.
Well, fast-forward to BYU-Arizona State on Halloween, and it happened again. Though at least this mistake wasn’t in the closing seconds of the game.
In the first quarter in Provo, Bachmeier tried to run the ball in for a touchdown from the one-yard line, but fumbled immediately after the snap. Sione Moa jumped on it, advancing it into the end zone for a touchdown. Replay review confirmed that Bachmeier had indeed fumbled, and separately confirmed that Moa had scored.
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But the review team should never have allowed the touchdown to stand, because the whistle blew on the play to signal that Bachmeier had been ruled down. Once that happened, the ball could not be advanced after a fumble. Inexplicably though, they awarded the Cougars a TD anyway.
And now the Big 12 Conference has been forced to issue yet another statement that the officiating crew had made a mistake.
“Replay was incorrect in awarding a score,” the statement read. “The correct ruling should have been BYU ball for a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line.”
Sure, the Cougars may have punched it in from the two, but you never know in college football, and the call handed them a touchdown that should not have happened. Understandably, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham was furious with the officiating crew at the time, and after the game.
“I was trying to argue that he does have the right to recover it post-whistle, but that’s not a clear advancement, which means the ball should be at the three,” he said. “Obviously, that wasn’t what happened. It’s not the officials’ fault. Those officials don’t have say in that. That’s all back home.”
There’s little doubt that these mistakes are simply that, mistakes, and not some grand conspiracy by the Big 12 Conference to help get BYU to the College Football Playoff. But it’s a sign of the seemingly growing officiating problem in college football, and yet another example of the fact that referees can, and often do, impact a game negatively. Some Cougars fans will also be quick to point out any number of calls they believe went against their team.
Normally, over the course of a season, these things even out. It’s just unfortunate when there are several high-profile mistakes all happening around the same program.
BYU has yet another massive game this Saturday, as they travel up the road to play their heated rivals, the Utah Utes, in Salt Lake City. The No. 3 Utah Utes and No. 7 BYU Cougars. Just as everyone expected. And given the tight Big 12 race, with Utah 5-0, BYU 4-1 and Texas Tech 4-1, it could have tremendous implications in determining which teams will play in the conference championship game, as well as a spot in the playoff.
Hopefully we’re not talking about the refs after this one.