{"id":431325,"date":"2026-10-18T15:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431325\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:56:15","slug":"flag-possession-extra-second-late-game-officiating-drama-was-talk-of-college-football-yet-again-wtop-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431325\/","title":{"rendered":"Flag? Possession? Extra second? Late-game officiating drama was talk of college football yet again \u2013 WTOP News"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Notre Dame might have deserved one more play at the end of its game at BYU. Florida State was furious over how referees saw its two Hail Mary completions<\/a> for would-have-been touchdowns in double overtime against Miami.<\/p>\n

And once again, end-of-game officiating was under fire.<\/p>\n

Dramatic \u2014 and sometimes controversial \u2014 endings were the story of a wild college football Saturday, with late-game calls deciding some outcomes and potentially even having an effect on how the College Football Playoff shapes up a couple months from now.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s 28-24 loss at BYU<\/a> ended one second earlier than it should have, the Big 12 Conference said \u2014 and some suggested the Irish were the victims of an uncalled pass interference<\/a> on what became their final play of the evening, after looking at how BYU\u2019s Evan Johnson defended Notre Dame\u2019s Jaden Greathouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it warranted a flag,\u201d ESPN and ABC rules analyst Matt Austin said over a replay of the final play on the broadcast, as BYU\u2019s celebration was just beginning to get underway. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of contact where you\u2019re not playing the ball. You\u2019re just playing the receiver.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their part, the Irish \u2014 who lobbied for the flag \u2014 shrugged the no-call off afterward, at least publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after his team\u2019s 16-game winning streak was snapped. \u201cI know people are going to look for me to put blame on somebody else. That\u2019s not what we do around here. We own it. We\u2019ve got to be better and we\u2019ve got to execute no matter what the situation is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pass interference \u2014 marking the second straight week that a late non-call played a major role in an outcome of a marquee game, after one that certainly seemed like it should have been called against Georgia wasn\u2019t and helped the Bulldogs beat Alabama on Oct. 10 \u2014 could have been debated.<\/p>\n

The game clock miscue seemed absolute, after replays proved one second remained when Notre Dame\u2019s final pass fell incomplete. It is at least the second time that a last-second game clock miscue became a national talking point, after Michigan won 13-12<\/a> on a Hail Mary pass in Week 1 over Western Michigan after the replay official put one second back on the clock in a game that it seemed the Wolverines should have lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the Big 12\u2019s review of the final play of Saturday\u2019s 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,\u201d the Big 12 said in a statement early Sunday. \u201cThe Conference will conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process in advance of next week\u2019s games.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were other calls that loomed huge, such as officials correctly ruling that Indiana wide receiver Nick Marsh was out of bounds on a potentially game-winning play in the Hoosiers\u2019 loss to Ohio State,<\/a> and a roughing-the-passer penalty<\/a> on Georgia in the final moments of what became the winning drive for Auburn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes great restraint not to do it,\u201d Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. \u201cAnd we didn\u2019t have great restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida State went back-and-forth with Miami all night and needed a miracle at the end to try and send the game to a third overtime.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles think they got that miracle. Two, actually. Neither counted and the Hurricanes won, 43-35.<\/a><\/p>\n

On fourth-and-21 in the second overtime, Seminoles quarterback Ashton Daniels heaved the ball into the end zone and it was caught by Micahi Danzy for a touchdown \u2014 one that was called back after a holding call that Florida State felt didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo watch the film,\u201d Florida State coach Mike Norvell said.<\/p>\n

A play later, now facing fourth-and-31, Daniels sent an even deeper throw into the right corner of the end zone. A maze of bodies leaped for the catch and it appeared that Florida State\u2019s Duce Robinson and Miami\u2019s Bryce Fitzgerald both had their hands on the ball. Florida State players signaled touchdown. Miami players signaled interception. Fitzgerald emerged with the ball, the Atlantic Coast Conference replay officials agreed, and the Hurricanes won to stay unbeaten.<\/p>\n

In fairness, Florida State still would have needed a 2-point conversion to extend the game even if either of the Hail Mary touchdowns had counted. The loss sent Florida State to 3-4, put the embattled Norvell under even more fire, and kept Miami\u2019s hopes of a perfect season alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t understand it,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cObviously, it hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here<\/a>, visit the Top 25 here<\/a> and see AP\u2019s full college football coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Notre Dame might have deserved one more play at the end of its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-431325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}