No. 2 Notre Dame’s two-minute drill at the end of the first half of its game vs. No. 8 BYU went disastrously wrong.
As Notre Dame trailed 21-10, Fighting Irish QB CJ Carr lost his grip on the ball as he went to spike it on first-and-goal with six seconds to go. Notre Dame rushed to the line with no timeouts and needed to stop the clock after the clock began following the first down. Carr apparently didn’t have a great grip on the ball, and it slipped out of his hand before he spiked it.
The play was called a spike and incomplete pass on the field. But after BYU coach Kalani Sitake called timeout, officials reviewed it and determined that Carr had fumbled.
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The reversal was possible because of BYU’s heads-up play. Jayven Williams immediately fell on the ball after the spike. Had BYU not recovered the ball immediately, Notre Dame would have retained possession.
Notre Dame had a chance to take the lead over BYU with a touchdown to end the half and a touchdown to start the third quarter after getting the second-half kickoff. Instead, the Irish entered halftime still trailing by two scores and facing an uphill battle in the second half against a BYU team playing very well despite the absence of star rusher LJ Martin.
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