[BlackcatAlum]

I don't know what happened at the end, I seriously doubt they called for Johnson to not punt the football. I think Johnson seen a lane to run and just made a bad play. Wildcats definitely got lucky their at the end.

I guess that's possible.  If true, though, it still reflects poorly on the coaches if the player thought he could ad lib the play and ignore the decision to punt.  But I digress.

Personally, I wouldn't have punted either.  I would have snapped it to the punter and have him book it straight back into the end zone, run sideways until the defense was upon him, then step out the back for the safety.  It would kill a few more seconds with the play itself, then the free kick would burn some more time.  But either way it would have given BL the ball much farther away from scoring.

Looking back at the play again on WPRG's broadcast and judging by the coaches on the sidelines reaction, that definitely wasn't what was called.

Either a punt was called or running around (like you said) and taking a safety had to be what was called, I think Johnson just seen a lane and tried to make a play.