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Sun Belt admits that replay officials incorrectly awarded Arkansas State a game-winning touchdown

Replay officials overturned an incomplete pass call with three seconds to go

nick bromberg
Senior writer
·2-min read

The Sun Belt Conference admitted Tuesday that Arkansas State’s winning touchdown catch against FCS opponent Central Arkansas should not have counted.

Jaylen Raynor hit Corey Rucker for a seven-yard TD with three seconds to go on the play below. The call on the field was that the pass fell incomplete as the ball bounced away from Rucker after he hit the ground.

Yet somehow, the Sun Belt’s replay review center overturned the call on the field and said that Rucker caught the ball. Arkansas State won 34-31.

The Sun Belt said in its statement that there was 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 conference said.

“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.”

Even Rucker said after the game that he didn’t think he caught the ball.

“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,” he said after the game.

The call was quite the break for Arkansas State as it avoided a home loss to a lower-tier opponent. There’s no guarantee that Arkansas State would have scored on the final play of the game had the pass been correctly ruled incomplete.

The TD also nullified an incredible comeback for Central Arkansas. After Arkansas State went up 27-10 with 14:15 to go, the Bears reeled off three consecutive TDs and took the lead with 55 seconds to go on a four-yard TD run by Darius Hale.