Big 12 says a second should have been added back to clock after No. 2 Notre Dame's final play in upset loss to No. 8 BYU

The 2026 college football season has already become the year of the final second.

The Big 12 admitted early Sunday morning that one second should have remained after Notre Dame's final play in the No. 2 Fighting Irish's 28-24 loss at No. 8 BYU. CJ Carr threw a pass into the end zone intended for Jaden Greathouse on that last play. And it sure looked like BYU cornerback Evan Johnson could easily have been flagged for pass interference.

"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's statement said. "The conference will conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process in advance of next week's games."

If you look closely, you can see that one second remained when the ball hit the ground. Of course, that added second doesn't guarantee that Notre Dame would have won the game on what should have been the final play, but the Irish would have at least gotten another chance to get the ball into the end zone.

It's at least the third significant final-second controversy of the first seven weeks of the season. In Week 1, the Big Ten didn't follow protocols when it added a second back to the clock ahead of Michigan's game-winning Hail Mary in the Wolverines' 13-12 win over Western Michigan. In Week 5, defending FCS champion Montana State's 19-game win streak ended at the hands of Idaho after a second was added back to the clock. In that instance, the Big Sky said the circumstances were properly officiated.

Per college football's replay rules, replay officials have the ability to add a second back to the clock in instances just like this one. It clearly states that "time can be restored at the end of either half if the game clock goes to 0:00 and there should have been time remaining and the clock will next start on the snap."

In the case involving Michigan and Western Michigan, the Big Ten's replay crew used a video feed trained on the game clock and not the clock embedded on the replay feed to make the determination there was a second remaining. The clock embedded on the replay feeds of the play showed that no time remained when the pass was touched by a Western Michigan player who had jumped from out of bounds.

The Big Ten stood by its replay decision in the hours after the game, and Western Michigan initially accepted the explanation before reversing course and saying that protocols had not been followed. The NCAA's FBS Oversight Committee also confirmed that the Broncos would have won the game had officials followed the proper replay protocol.

On both Saturday night and Week 1, the officiating crew was from the same conference as the home team.

Given the Big 12's acknowledgement, it will be fascinating to see where the Irish end up in Sunday's AP Top 25 and how the College Football Playoff committee ultimately treats the loss. As you assuredly know, Notre Dame was left out of the 12-team field a season ago after the committee flipped Notre Dame and Miami in its final set of rankings.

The Hurricanes had beaten the Fighting Irish in Week 1, but remained behind Notre Dame in the committee's rankings in the final weeks of the regular season. But after neither team played on conference championship weekend, the committee moved Miami ahead of Notre Dame on account of that head-to-head victory. Miami went on to make the national championship game while Notre Dame declined to play in a bowl game.