<span style="font-style: italic;">Rule 4-2-2a: The ball becomes dead and the play has ended when a runner goes out of bounds, is held so his forward progress is stopped, or allows any part of his person other than hand or foot to touch the ground.</span> <br style="font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-style: italic;">EXCEPTION 1: The ball remains live if, at the snap, a place-kick holder with his knee on the ground and with a teammate in kicking position catches or recovers the snap while his knee is on the ground and places the ball for a kick, or if he rises to advance, hand, kick or pass.</span>
(Exception 2 allows the ball to remain live if there is a bad snap and the holder has to lift his knee to recover it, then immediately goes back down to a knee.)
After the ball was kicked, the exception for the holder no longer applies. If he has the ball with a knee down, the play is over.
(Incidentally, that LSU play referenced would have been a dead ball in high school. A holder must rise from the ground before doing anything with the ball. I'm told it also should have been dead in NCAA because the kicker was no longer in a position to kick the ball, therefore the exception had terminated.)
Assuming the coach is correct and a whistle had blown:
Rule 4-3-3 would allow John Glenn to replay the down for the inadvertent whistle, unless the whistle was blown because an official saw the holder with his knee on the ground. I hear no whistle on the video, though.
Assuming the player's knee was down, and the officials simply missed it:
<span style="font-style: italic;">Rule 1-1-9: The use of any replay or television monitoring equipment by the officials in making any decision relating to the game is prohibited.</span>
Coach, you lose. Good day, sir.
