Ole Miss Loses To Refs, Clock, Cal

In his first time seeing playing action, Ole Miss backup quarterback John Rhys Plumlee led a pretty fabulous-looking comeback down the stretch against Cal Saturday afternoon. Alas, it wasn’t enough.

With two minutes and 45 seconds left on the clock, down 28-20, Ole Miss was 90 yards from the endzone, but got the ball downfield and seemed well-positioned to tie it up. At second and goal, Plumlee got the ball to Cal’s 3-yard line. At third and goal, he tried a short pass to wide receiver Elijah Moore, who caught it and was ruled a yard short by the referees.

But it looks like Moore was pretty squarely in the endzone here—take a look for yourself:

To the consternation of Ole Miss fans, the refs didn’t review the play. And with just seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining, there wasn’t time for the Rebels to do anything about it. Instead, Plumlee rushed for a quarterback sneak on fourth down and was stopped short, ending the game. (Condolences to this guy.)

Eh, sure, it wasn’t going to be a game-winning touchdown anyway; Ole Miss, again, was trailing by eight. But it’s a little weird the officials didn’t act quickly and review it.

Ole Miss coach Matt Luke didn’t understand why they hadn’t.

“I thought at the very least that they’re supposed to review every single play,” he said postgame. “But it’s fourth down, you can’t wait, you gotta get the next play called. But I thought at the very least it could’ve been buzzed.”

Never fear, Rebels. Your interim AD Keith Carter will get to the bottom of this, dammit!