CJ Carr had three seconds and one throw left at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday night, and his fade to Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete in the end zone to seal No. 8 BYU’s 28-24 win over No. 2 Notre Dame. Before the night was over, a former NFL referee and then the Big 12 itself had said the game should not have ended on that snap.
“There was indeed :01 on the bug clock when the pass hit the ground. 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,” Terry McAulay, the former NFL referee who works as NBC’s rules analyst, wrote on X late Saturday.
As some have noted, there was indeed :01 on the bug clock when the pass hit the ground (BYU/ND). 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.
— Terry McAulay (@tjmcaulay) October 18, 2026
2 Game clocks showing 1 second left in the game? https://t.co/JMT4G7ErHi
— Notre Dame Against The World (@ndatw_cfb) October 18, 2026
The bug is the score-and-clock graphic on the broadcast, and it still showed one second as the ball hit the turf. McAulay’s complaint was with the replay booth, which had the chance to check the stadium clock against that graphic and let the play stand anyway.
“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, which assigned the officiating crew, said in a statement late Saturday night.
The Big 12 added that it will examine its end-of-game officiating process before next week’s games, though the 28-24 final stands. Notre Dame would have had one more snap near the goal line with the game riding on it, and the conference responsible for the crew has now put in writing that the Irish were owed that snap.
NEW: NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay calls out a clock error on the final play of Notre Dame vs. BYU:
“There was indeed :01 on the bug clock when the pass hit the ground. 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.”
https://t.co/Y59Mjs0JAi
— On3 (@On3) October 18, 2026
@On3 @ActuallyDSW Sorry Terry. You’re wrong. ND WR was holding the DB’s wrist pulling him down trying to sell the PI as seen here https://t.co/PnhUgFhh1L
— Jimmie Chesh (@JimmieChesh) October 18, 2026
Did officials also miss pass interference on Greathouse?
Greathouse took heavy contact from a BYU cornerback as Carr’s pass arrived, and no flag came. Pass interference cannot be reviewed, so the non-call became final the moment no flag hit the turf.
“I think it warranted a flag. That’s a lot of contact where you’re not playing the ball… I would’ve supported a DPI,” Matt Austin, a rules analyst for ESPN and ABC, said.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman kept his postgame focus on his own team, which had erased a 21-10 halftime deficit and led 24-21 with 9:31 left before Bear Bachmeier hit Walker Lyons for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:47 to play.
(Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images)
“We had them on the ropes, and we couldn’t find a way to finish. They found a way to get a stop when they needed it the most,” Freeman said.
McAulay has been at the center of a Notre Dame finish before. Last September he criticized the officiating at the end of the 41-40 home loss to Texas A&M, one of the two early defeats that later left the 10-2 Irish as the first team out of the College Football Playoff at No. 11. Notre Dame then withdrew from bowl consideration.
A program that lost a playoff spot on a two-loss resume last year now has a 16-game winning streak snapped, a 6-1 record and a written admission that it was denied a final play. BYU, now 6-0, beat Notre Dame for the first time since 2004.
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