Ref's miscue keeps Colorado from going for game-tying touchdown on game's final play

The college football season began last night, and one of the more dramatic endings came in a game you almost certainly didn't watch. Colorado played Hawaii in Honolulu last night, meaning the kickoff wasn't until after 1 am EST.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Buffaloes trailed 28-20 but had the ball in the red zone with under 10 seconds remaining. They needed to score and then convert on the 2-pointer to tie the game, and they should have at least been able to get one last snap off. Unfortunately for Colorado, the refs completely flubbed their very simple duty to place the ball down in time for one last play, so the clock ran out and the game ended.

Here's the sequence:

Considering the time left on the clock, it's a little unclear why everyone is moving so slowly to line up for the next play. And — if we're really going to nitpick — the play before was almost equally disastrous. The Colorado quarterback's throw with 17 seconds left prevented the RB from going out of bounds or getting a first down — either of which would have stopped the clock and prevented the refs from subsequently ruining things.

Unsurprisingly, the Colorado players flipped out on the refs, but there was nothing to be done. A tough ending to an otherwise exciting game, which ended around 5am EST.

Here's the full sequence (h/t SB Nation):

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