Notre Dame-BYU missed call controversy
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
The Big 12 said time remained when Notre Dame's final pass hit the ground, and the play was wrongly cleared.
The admitted error ended the Irish's 16-game win streak and cut their playoff odds to 85 percent.
Background
BYU is a Provo, Utah, program in the Big 12 Conference, the league whose officials and replay center handled this game. Notre Dame, a independent powerhouse ranked No. 2, arrived 6-0 and was playing the most anticipated regular-season home game in BYU history, per The Athletic. The game ended with a disputed no-call and a clock question, and the Big 12's public acknowledgment the next day pushed it into a wider run of late-game officiating controversies this season.
How it unfolded
- Oct 17, 2026No. 8 BYU beat No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 in Provo. Notre Dame QB CJ Carr drove the Irish to the BYU 8-yard line, but his final pass toward Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete with no flag.
- Oct 17, 2026Replays showed one second remaining on the clock when the pass hit the ground; officials on the field did not review the play. Notre Dame's playoff odds fell from 98 percent to 85 percent, per The Athletic's Austin Mock.
- Oct 18, 2026The Big 12 said time remained on the clock when the ball hit the ground and the play was incorrectly cleared by the replay officiating crew, and said it would conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process.
- Oct 18, 2026Notre Dame's 16-game winning streak was snapped; the Irish (6-1) next play Navy on Oct. 31 in Foxborough, Mass.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- The Big 12 said time remained on the clock when the ball hit the ground and the play was incorrectly cleared by the replay officiating crew, and it will review its end-of-game officiating process.
- Analysts
- ESPN/ABC rules analyst Matt Austin said the contact warranted a flag and he would have supported defensive pass interference, while Fox's Mike Pereira said the play had to be reviewed immediately and called it embarrassing for all officiating.
- Caution
- Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said "It was chaos" but declined to assign blame, saying "We own it. We've got to be better and we've got to execute no matter what the situation is."
- Support
- BYU coach Kalani Sitake said of the final blitz, "They wanted some pressure, we gave it to him, it worked out for us."
Still unverified
Whether pass interference should have been called on the final play is debated; analysts describe contact but no flag was thrown, and the play is not reviewable. Sources also differ on which BYU defender covered Greathouse: The Athletic and the AP/KUTV account name Evan Johnson, while The Sporting News names Omar Thornton.