Corey Rucker's nine receptions for 179 yards registered as one of the most impressive performances from any receiver in Week 1, but his final catch will forever be controversial after the Sun Belt on Monday admitted an error in a replay process that awarded Arkansas State a late go-ahead touchdown in a back-and-forth 34-31 win over the upset-minded Central Arkansas Bears.
The Sun Belt Conference, upon review of the complete pass call with 3 seconds remaining in the Central Arkansas at Arkansas State football game, has announced an incorrect application of the replay review process.
The replay official was focused on the firm control and body part down aspects of the act of a catch and failed to evaluate the surviving the ground aspect of a catch during the review of the play in question.
The right end zone camera shows the receiver did not survive the ground, but this camera angle was not consulted by the replay official. The replay ruling should have confirmed the on-field call of an incomplete pass.
Had the correct call stood, Arkansas State would have had time for one more play from the 7-yard line.
The ruling was initially called incomplete, and video from KATV's Jack Allen shows field judge Terrence McClain standing a few feet away with a clear view of Rucker hitting the ground and the ball shaking loose.
After a video review, head referee Marshall Lewis announced only that "the receiver got one foot down and maintained control." A league spokesperson confirmed to CBS Sports that on-field officials do not have veto power over booth rulings.
Central Arkansas head coach Nathan Brown said on his radio call-in show that the Sun Belt reached out on Monday to admit the error. Brown was magnanimous reflecting on the difficult situation, expressing how much he hurt for his team to miss the opportunity to beat an FBS team.
"You just wish and hope the nature and the reasoning for a replay is to get it without a shadow of a doubt," Brown said on the call-in show. "No reason why it's not a correct call is the whole point of having a replay. I thought the longer it went the better off for the Bears because if you're dissecting a play for what was essentially eight minutes and 36 seconds -- we counted -- of review time, that's a lot of time to try and figure out if it was a catch. That was the part that in the end was like a little bit frustrating."
The Sun Belt is part of an officiating consortium that also includes the SEC. John McDaid serves as coordinator of football officials for both leagues, and video review is handled in the SEC offices in Birmingham. The play was automatically reviewed since it was a scoring play.
The play occurred on the opposite sideline from Central Arkansas' bench, and Rucker did not protest as he got up from the ground, although two Bears defensive backs did. During the replay review, the DV Sport replay feed was shown on the video board in the stadium, but as stated by the league, the focus of the review was whether Rucker got one foot down in bounds with control.
"I never once on that screen saw them go to the end of the catch process," Allen said.
Rucker himself after the game admitted he didn't think he completed the catch.
"Initially I thought they were reviewing the possession because once I hit the ground and rolled over, the ball came out. So, in my mind, I didn't think it was a catch just because I thought they were reviewing the possession," Rucker told reporters after the game. Head coach Butch Jones can be heard in the background chiming in: "It was a catch. Always a catch."
The betting total was 58.5 and hit the over because of the play. The ending made Sportscenter's Monday Bad Beats segment, but the angles shown on the segment are, as Steve Coughlin quipped, "...not conclusive."