The Big 12 admits replay handed BYU a touchdown it never should have had

The Big 12 said Saturday night that its replay officials were wrong to give No. 8 BYU a first-quarter touchdown in a 27-20 win over Arizona State. That's a 7-point mistake in a 7-point game, and the conference admitted it only after the final whistle.

"Replay was incorrect in awarding a score," the Big 12 said in a statement reported by ESPN and posted by On3. "The correct ruling should have been BYU ball for a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line."

On BYU's first possession, quarterback Bear Bachmeier ran up the middle on second-and-goal from the 1 and fumbled. Running back Sione Moa picked the ball up and ran it in. Officials on the field ruled Bachmeier down by forward progress at the 1. Replay first decided he had fumbled and BYU had recovered. Then the play was reviewed a second time, and the league's replay center in Irving, Texas, turned it into a touchdown.

The rulebook says otherwise. The Big 12 cited Rule 12-3-3-d-2, which gives the ball to the recovering team at the spot of the recovery and wipes out any advance. Moa recovered at the 2. The ball should have stayed there.

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham made that argument on the sideline and kept making it afterward. "It's not the officials' fault," he said. "Those officials don't have say in that. That's all back home."

He's right about where the blame goes. The crew on the field had it closer to correct the first time. Two trips to the replay booth made it worse.

And BYU keeps showing up in these stories. This is the third straight week a Cougars game has turned on officiating, according to ESPN. After BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24 on Oct. 17, the Big 12 said one second should have been put back on the clock, which would have given the Irish one more play. Last week's 39-31 double-overtime loss at UCF went to overtime after a blocked field goal, when a helmet coming off triggered a 10-second runoff that took away UCF's chance at a second try.

Nobody is saying BYU wouldn't have scored from the 2 on third down. But an admission after the game doesn't help Arizona State, and an apology doesn't come with a do-over.

What's next: The result stands. The pressure now is on the Big 12 to explain how a second replay look made a call worse, before a mistake like this decides a conference title race.