BYU continued its incredible 2026 season with a 27-20 win over Arizona State on Saturday, improving to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big 12 play. Kalani Sitake's Cougars now remain firmly in contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
However, the Cougars have been at the center of a run of controversial officiating decisions in recent weeks, several of which have benefited BYU. A disputed call in the Arizona State game has once again put Big 12 officials under the spotlight.
The Big 12 addressed the latest controversy in a statement, triggering reactions from fans.
During BYU's opening offensive drive against Arizona State, quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who holds the No. 7 spot in PFN's CFB QB Impact Rankings with an 88.5 grade, attempted to push through the middle on second-and-goal from the 1-yard line. However, he lost possession of the football, which was later recovered by teammate Sione Moa.
Moa then carried the ball into the end zone, appearing to give the Cougars a touchdown. The officials initially ruled the play dead, but after a review, they concluded that Bachmeier had fumbled and that BYU recovered the ball at the 1-yard line.
A second review then awarded BYU a touchdown, but the conference later acknowledged that the replay decision was incorrect.
In a postgame statement, the Big 12 explained that the play should have been ruled dead at the 2-yard line, pointing to Rule 12-3-3-d-2.
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"Replay was incorrect in awarding a score," the statement said . "The correct ruling should have been BYU ball for a third-and-goal from the two-yard line."
The conference's explanation did little to calm the frustration among fans.
"This is shady," one said.
"Big 12 refs so in the can for BYU they'll just make up rules in the middle of the game to assist. This is unreal," a Utah alum wrote .
"Good on RG3 for calling this out while it happened. He basically said every week the Big 12 refs are making up the rules as they go, more or less," one said.
It also comes following the controversy surrounding BYU's win over Notre Dame last month. The Big 12 acknowledged following the game that officials should have added another second to the clock, which would have given Marcus Freeman's squad one final opportunity to attempt a game-winning play.
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There is no evidence suggesting that the Big 12 is deliberately making officiating decisions to improve BYU's standings. However, the repeated controversies have intensified concerns about the quality of officiating in college football.
"Too bad we can't all just issue an apology after failing to do our jobs like the refs can. I'd get fired for what they get away with," a fan wrote .
"Fire the people in the review room Big12 Conference," one added .
"At what point are these refs going to be held accountable?" a fan exclaimed .
BYU has also been involved in another controversial officiating decision this season, as questions emerged during its 39-31 double-overtime loss to UCF over the final play of regulation. However, unlike the incidents involving Arizona State and Notre Dame, the Big 12 did not release an official statement addressing the controversy.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
