SEC releases statement on botched Missouri-Kentucky ending

Hey, remember how officials totally screwed up the ending of Missouri-Kentucky? The SEC released a statement about that:

The text:

After postgame video review and discussion with the on-field officials, it was determined the officials did not see the ball dislodged by an opposing player as the Missouri receiver attempted to return the ball directly to the official. Had that action been seen by the officials in real time, the clock would have been stopped at approximately 0:16 seconds and restarted on the ready for play signal.

Welp, everybody back to Lexington to play the last 16 seconds then! That’s the way this works, right? ...right?

Yes, Missouri screwed up plenty before the final 16 seconds. No, there’s absolutely no guarantee Mizzou would have scored in those seconds — if anything, if officials had called things correctly (which would have included a defensive delay of game penalty), Missouri would have almost been too damn close to score a touchdown. The Tigers seemed only capable of scoring via long bomb.

But ... man. In a game Missouri desperately needed to win, it would have been awesome to see what the Tigers might be able to do with a couple of extra snaps. Give ‘em the full 60 minutes to save their season.