[Husker] What exactly is the defense doing?

[Steve Reichenbach]

I thought the most interesting officiating incident yesterday was in
the Fresno State at Texas A&M game, which I believe had a WAC crew.

In overtime, when Fresno State had to score to match A&M, the Fresno
State player was close to the goal line and nearly out of bounds.  He
thrust the ball at the end line and it came out of his hands and went
into the end zone where a Texas A&M player picked it up.  The ref
mistakenly called him out of bounds a the 1 yd line.  The replay showed
absolutely that he was not out of bounds before he lost the ball and
showed pretty clearly that the ball was not over the goal line either.
The call went to review.

If the ref had called it correctly, then the game would have been over
and A&M would have won.  If the ref's call was confirmed, then Fresno
State would have a first and goal from the one yard line, which was the
wrong call.  The announcers didn't discuss the intricacies of the
review, but I believe it is the case that if the ref blows the play
dead for the player going out of bounds then what happens after can't
be reversed.  If that is true, then it would be a critically important
oficieating error that couldn't be corrected.

When the review came back, it confirmed the call on the field, without
explanation (when it was very clearly a wrong call).  I wondered if
they were afraid to say it was the wrong call but couldn't be
overturned.  Then, an amazing thing happened.  They reversed the first
review (which I didn't know could be done) and ruled that the call
was reversed (which I didn't think could be done), which would mean
Texas A&M would win, but they added that there was a penalty against
A&M for roughing the passer.  In the replays, the announcers said they
saw the flag for the call, but I never saw the flag on a couple of
replays.  Moreover, the penalty hadn't been mentioned by the refs
during all of the very long review.

Anyway, in the end, it seemed a good resolution of the issue.  Texas
A&M didn't get the win, which I don't think they could have because
I don't think they can award a fumble to A&M after the whistle, but
Fresno State didn't get the ball at the one yard line, which I don't
think they should have since their player clearly fumbled the ball
away.  Instead, it was almost a do over --- Fresno State got the ball
back at near the point they were before and the outcome was determined
on the field by subsequent the play (with A&M eventually winning).

It was unusual.