Kick returner Derion Kendrick clearly lost the football trying to return the kick, and the Notre Dame coverage team got a clear recovery, which would have set them up inside the red zone in a 3-3 game. However, in a razor-thin decision, it was determined that the nose of the football went out of bounds, allowing Clemson to retain possession.
How close was it? Extremely close.
Notre Dame almost had a fumble recovery deep in Clemson territory, Clemson is lucky an inch of the ball was out of bounds pic.twitter.com/FQHxzFlENO
— ??Ellis the Menace (@DFSBBallGuy) December 29, 2018
This is the Ultra HD 4K replay angle used to overturn that fumble pic.twitter.com/1lywMPlO0H
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 29, 2018
There were two ways this could have been overturned. If Kendrick was touching the ball while any part of him was out of bounds, it would have been Clemson’s ball. The refs ultimately adjudged that they had enough evidence to determine that the nose of the football was on the white, though Notre Dame fans certainly didn’t think so.
Coach Brian Kelly questioned whether the evidence was conclusive enough, but the decision was made. Clemson didn’t score on the drive, but the overturn likely prevented Notre Dame from scoring at least three points and possibly more.
