Big 12 Investigating Controversial Ending of Notre Dame-BYU Game

The No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish were handed their first loss of the season Saturday by the No. 8 BYU Cougars, but they believe they were robbed.

And Notre Dame actually has a case for believing so.

On the final play of the game, quarterback CJ Carr tried to connect with receiver Jaden Greathouse in the end zone. His pass fell incomplete but it appeared as though he was interfered with on the catch.

Officials debated whether or not to call defensive pass interference (they did not) and the game ended in controversy.

ABC rules analyst Matt Austin believed a flag should’ve been thrown against BYU.

“I think it warranted a flag,” Austin said. “That’s a lot of contact where you’re not playing the ball, you’re just playing the receiver. A lot of contact, grabbing the arm. … I would’ve supported a DPI.”

But the much more egregious offense is the fact that Notre Dame actually had one second left on the clock and should’ve had one more play to try to score.

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay tweeted that the officials should’ve intervened and given Notre Dame the extra second.

“As some have noted, there was indeed :01 on the bug clock when the pass hit the ground (BYU/ND),” McAulay wrote. “Replay should have reviewed to determine if the in-stadium clock was at :01 at that point and if so, ND would have had one more play.”

The double blunder on the part of the officials not only had social media in an uproar, but it also sparked an internal investigation into the incident by the Big 12 conference.

"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 Big 12 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."

Not only will Notre Dame fall in the AP Top 25 standings, but Saturday’s loss could come back to haunt Notre Dame come College Football Playoff selection time.