The Mountain West Conference acknowledged Friday that an error cost Boise State a victory over Colorado State earlier in the week, but because of an NCAA rule the outcome cannot be reversed.
During Wednesday night's game at Colorado State, Boise State's James Webb III appeared to make a banked 3-pointer before the buzzer at the end of overtime to break an 84-84 tie, but officials waived off the basket after a review.
The shot left Webb's hand on time, but the clock operator was slow to start the clock and the officials used stopwatch technology to ascertain that the play took 1.3 seconds when there was only 0.8 of a second on the clock before the ball was inbounded.
The referees followed the correct protocol with the evidence in front of them, the conference determined Thursday, but after further review on Friday, the league office found a difference between the "rate at which the embedded digital stopwatch advanced (on the replay monitor) and the rate at which the game clock regressed during the instant replay review."
So the officials ruled correctly based on the technology, but the information was flawed and, according to NCAA Rule 5, Section 5, the outcome of a game cannot be overturned.
Boise State went on to lose 97-93 in double overtime.
Four days earlier, Mountain West officials erred on a call at the end of San Diego State's victory over New Mexico.
