Another week, another BYU officiating controversy: 'Officials just making up rules'

BYU football continues to be a part of some questionable officiating decisions this season.

Early in the first quarter against Arizona State on Saturday, Oct. 31, the No. 9 Cougars were awarded a touchdown — one Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira said shouldn’t have counted — after two separate reviews.

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Originally, officials reviewed a play and determined Bear Bachmeier fumbled at the Arizona State 1-yard line before running back Sione Moa recovered it. Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham called a timeout, which prompted officials to look at Bachmeier’s fumble again. Upon further review, they determined he broke the plane for a touchdown.

Bachmeier had initially been ruled down, with officials later advancing the ball for a touchdown.

Pereira did not agree with how the play was ruled. He said a touchdown shouldn’t have been awarded after review, noting the ball can’t be advanced forward after the play was ruled dead.

“This is not the type of situation that you have when a runner steps out of bounds where you can continue in action,” Pereira said on the broadcast. “This was a player that recovered the ball and got up in the field of play. The ruling on the field was the runner was down initially.

“And if that’s the case, you’ve ruled it dead. You can give a recovery, but you can’t give an advance, unless you’ve come up with a new rule here, which I’m not too sure you can really do.”

A controversial @BYUfootball touchdown and Mike Pereira breaks down here pic.twitter.com/EbCfjO6MkZ

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 31, 2026

BYU, on Arizona State’s 1-yard line, could’ve scored the next play on third down. Still, it appears the Sun Devils should’ve received another chance at stopping a Cougars touchdown.

Dillingham was visibly upset with the officials after officials changed the ruling, appearing to argue the ball can’t be advanced, and the play shouldn’t have counted due to officials calling the play dead.

Pereira agreed.

“The fact is, Kenny’s right,” Pereira said. “They killed the play. You can forget about when the whistle happened. They killed the play in the field of play and the ball was out. You can give the recovery but not the advance.”

It’s the third consecutive week with a questionable officiating decision in a game feature BYU, which can’t seem to escape controversy. BYU’s double-overtime loss to UCF in Week 8 was riddled with officiating decisions, a week after the Cougars got away with a potential game-changing pass interference call on the final play of the game in their upset win over Notre Dame.

“This is three weeks in a row where we’ve had Big 12 officials just making up rules as they go,” Fox analyst Robert Griffin III said on the broadcast.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Another week, another BYU officiating controversy: ‘Officials just making up rules’