The Texas A&M Aggies and Notre Dame Fighting Irish swapped long shots and leads for four quarters on Saturday before the Aggies won 41–40 at Notre Dame Stadium with a 74-yard march with 13 seconds remaining. Randy Bond’s extra point gave the team the victory after Marcel Reed’s 11-yard touchdown throw to tight end Nate Boerkircher ended the drive.
Joel Klatt focused on the officiating sequence that led up to the last score and the uncalled hold that he feels “clearly impacted the play” on Monday’s episode of “The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast.”
“I detest it when officiating is brought up at the end of such a fantastic game,” Klatt remarked. You reach the play for fourth down. This is the game; the stakes are high. In the center of the offensive line, there was a heinous hold. He will get a free peek when the finale stunts in. He has a free look after beating the offensive lineman, and he will succeed. … And someone tackled him.
Klatt went on, “You can’t tell me that you’re going to ignore the fourth down when it’s clear.” “From an officiating perspective, if it comes down to a fourth down or a play like that and it’s a 50/50 (call),” I’m not saying Notre Dame should have won. To a certain extent, I’m usually fine with letting the teams play during crucial situations. However, you have to call it when it’s egregious, and the play was obviously affected by it. It’s a hold. The flag must be raised.
The play Klatt mentioned is seen below.
Several contentious plays were crammed into fewer than three minutes over the last stretch.
Jeremiyah Love’s game-winning touchdown run for Notre Dame put Texas A&M in the red zone, but they were stopped by back-to-back presnap penalties.
The Aggies then had a first down at the 10-yard line when Reed’s incompletion was nullified by a defensive holding penalty on Notre Dame with the score tied at third and sixteen in the last minute.
Boerkircher released and caught Reed’s ball close to the back line a few plays later on the fourth down snap that determined the outcome of the game.
Terry McAulay, a veteran NFL referee and NBC rules commentator, described the contentious play Klatt mentioned as “a patently egregious missed offensive holding foul” during the game.
The turmoil was mirrored in the box score. Notre Dame had 440 yards while Texas A&M had 488 yards at 7.1 yards per play. In the first half, there was one turnover by each side.
For the first time since 2011, the Irish lost to 0-2 as coach Mike Elko’s team defeated South Bend 3-0.
On September 27, the Aggies, who are now rated No. 10, return to College Station to play No. 22 Auburn in their first SEC test. This weekend, the Fighting Irish will host the Purdue Boilermakers (2-1).
