Notre Dame football had one final opportunity to escape with a win over the No. 8 BYU Cougars.

With four seconds remaining and the ball at the 8.5-yard line, quarterback CJ Carr went to a slot fade for wide receiver Jaden Greathouse. The throw sailed over his head. There was some contact between Greathouse and the BYU defender, and the clock appeared to hit zeros.

That was it. The Fighting Irish fell 28-24 to drop to 6-1, missing out on a chance to become the No. 1 team in the country in the next AP poll.

Most of the immediate debate centered on the contact from the BYU defense on that final play. There may have been a little bit of pass interference. Even so, there probably wasn’t enough to warrant a flag being thrown.

The bigger controversy came at the very end

Replay showed there may have been one second left on the clock when the pass hit the ground. That would have given Notre Dame second-and-goal from the 8.5-yard line and one more shot at pulling out a victory. Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Irish were not granted a review, and they never got that second back.

After the game, Notre Dame’s suspicions were confirmed. Football rules analyst Terry McCauley was the first to weigh in, posting on X:

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

“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 the point and if so, ND would have had one more play.”

The Big 12, the conference BYU plays in under head coach Kalani Sitake, followed with a statement of its own:

NEW: The Big 12 has announced that one second should have been added back to the clock in BYU’s win over Notre Dame:

"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… https://t.co/K12UymB11r pic.twitter.com/XyARGOpYG5

— On3 (@On3) October 18, 2026

“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 conference will conduct a complete review of its game— end of game officiating process in advance of next week’s game.”

To put it as directly as possible, the officiating crew did not follow the correct process. Notre Dame should have had one second left on the clock and one final opportunity to win the game.

A bad process in a game of this magnitude

I’m not someone who complains much about officiating. The margins in this sport are small, and every game includes penalties that should and probably shouldn’t have gone against a team. Notre Dame lost, and BYU won.

It is still unfortunate that the Irish potentially had one more snap left on the field.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the process failed in the first place. The officials didn’t even take a look, and that happened in a matchup between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 8 BYU that drew College GameDay to town. No fan base wants a game of that size decided by a bad process.

What comes next for Notre Dame

Saturday night was a disappointing one for Freeman and the Fighting Irish. All they can do now is dust themselves off and get ready for Miami in two weeks.

That matchup will go a long way in determining what this season becomes. It could still be the year that looked like it held all the promise in the world with national title hopes. It could also turn into a massive disappointment.

If you ask me, the next step is the most important one for Notre Dame.