With about seven seconds left in Saturday's game against Ball State, IU looked as if they were on the verge of a comeback victory that would make the Hoosiers 3-0.
Down 38-25 with about four minutes remaining, freshman quarterback Nate Sudfeld led the Hoosiers to 14 straight points to give IU a 39-38 lead with only 49 seconds left in the game.
Then Ball State drove down the field to IU's 43-yard line with seven seconds left. That is when Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning dropped back and threw an out route to wide receiver Willie Snead, who made the catch to the IU 25-yard line with about one second left in the game (shown above).
This is where things got complicated. Wenning had passed for the first down, and neither team had any timeouts remaining. In college football, when a runner is down in-bounds and the play results in a first down, the clock restarts once the ball is set and the whistle to resume play is blown.
Before the ball was set in this situation, the officials called for a review and determined that Snead had made the catch. However, when the whistle was blown for play to resume after the review, the clock did not start and Ball State was able to kick a 42-yard field goal to win the game. Seven seconds elapsed between the whistle and the snap, though there was only one second left on the clock.
Therefore, should IU have won the game? It appears that Snead's leg is down in bounds when he makes the catch, and that the clock should have started on the whistle to resume play. Could the Cardinals have had enough time to get the snap off, since there was only one second remaining?
After some thought, I contacted Big Ten Coordinator of Officials Bill Carollo on Sunday morning, who said he would review the play and that Big Ten Assistant Commissioner Scott Chipman would respond with his decision.
This is an excerpt from the e-mail I received from Chipman:
"Officials properly ruled the play a completed pass and then the wide receiver went out of bounds. The clock stopped at the end of the play, then it went to replay. After the review, the play stood as called and the clock started with the snap, since the prior play ended with the receiver going out of bounds."
"The officials ruled that the receiver was out of bounds. The Big Ten does not comment on judgment calls."
Because I saw this response as peculiar, I want to know what your thoughts are on this situation. Do you agree with the Big Ten's judgment, or did IU get "robbed" of a victory? Comment below or tweet your thoughts to me at @jlittman93.
