The Camellia Bowl nearly provided one of the wackiest plays of the season (Video)

Sam Cooper
·College football writer
After review, the ruling on the field is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After review, the ruling on the field is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We almost had one of the wackiest plays of the season late in the first quarter of the Camellia Bowl.

Already up 7-3 on Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee was looking to add on to its lead when Brent Stockstill dropped one into the arms Shane Tucker down to the ASU 5-yard line. However, the ball was ripped from Tucker’s arms by Red Wolves defensive back Justin Clifton.

Clifton wasn’t sure if he was down, so he instinctively got up and ran in the opposite direction, leading to this silliness:

As you can see, most Middle Tennessee players thought the play was dead, so they didn’t really go after Clifton. But Stockstill gave chase and somehow managed to strip Clifton of the ball all the way at the 15-yard line.

The ball took a friendly hop right to Darreon Jackson, but he couldn’t corral it either. The ball bounced into the end zone where Kyle Wilson was able to control it for what appeared to be a touchdown.

As you would expect, this one prompted a lengthy review. Ultimately, it was determined that Clifton cleanly took the ball away from Tucker for an interception. However, Clifton was ruled down at the one-yard line.

(via ESPN)
(via ESPN)

Those guys did all of that running on a play that should have been ruled dead, and we are very thankful.

And aside from it being ruled an interception instead of a fumble, it looks like it was the correct call, too.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!