Originally Posted by
The Historian
You're right. As soon as the FG was blocked most of UAB's team stormed the field. When Barnes picked up the football and ran with it there were easily 50 Blazers in the field of play. But Conference USA officials aren't going to call that.
It really comes down to whether we had a timeout left. If we did we could use our challenge and claim there was illegal participation in that 12 or more defenders were on the field during the play. The penalty would have been half the distance to the goal and a replay of the down with one untimed down.
If you're the Tech coaching staff you have to do several things. You have to make sure you tell the officials before they leave the stadium. I'm not sure about CUSA, but officiating crews in most conferences will leave the stadium entirely immediately after the game, usually together in a van with a police escort. You have to catch them before that happens. Then you have to have one of your coaches or a Tech official in the press box alert the replay official that you are challenging the ruling on the field.