Why BYU’s Opening Touchdown vs. Arizona State Sparked Review And Debate

A replay decision early in Saturday’s BYU vs. Arizona State matchup drew questions from FOX Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira and frustrated Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham. On second and goal from the Sun Devils’ one-yard line, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier fumbled the ball and the play was ruled dead. Officials originally ruled after the play that forward progress had been stopped. BYU was given the ball at the one-yard line. A second review resulted in a BYU touchdown. Officials overturned the ruling and credited Sione Moa with recovering the fumble and getting into the end zone. The call stood, and BYU took a 7-0 lead. Play-by-play announcer Connor Onion asked Pereira on the FOX broadcast whether BYU could advance the fumble and what would have changed the officials’ minds. “This is not the type of situation that you have when the runner steps out of bounds where you can give him continuing action,” Pereira said. “This was a player that recovered the ball and got up in the field of play. The ruling on the field was the runner was down initially, and if that’s the case, you’ve ruled it dead. “You can give a recovery, but you can’t give an advance unless we’ve come up with a new rule here, which I’m not too sure that you can really do,” Pereira said. FOX Sports’ Robert Griffin III, calling the game with Onion, sided with Pereira and with Dillingham’s frustration. “Mikey P is 100% correct,” Griffin said. “Kenny Dillingham is justified in being frustrated about this situation because now this is three weeks in a row where we’ve had Big 12 officials just making up rules as they go.” Dillingham argued that the whistle had blown, which would’ve meant the play was dead. Pereira agreed with the coach, though he said the timing of the whistle was not the deciding factor. “Kenny is right,” Pereira said. “You can forget about when the whistle happened. They killed the play in the field of play, and the ball was out.” Pereira said the sequence is part of a pattern he has noticed in recent weeks involving Big 12 referees. “This is getting kind of frustrating week to week,” Pereira said. “We shouldn’t have these situations.”