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Big Ten admits officiating error in game called by refs that worked controversial Michigan-WMU finish
Confirmed
In Short: The Big Ten Conference admitted to an officiating error in Nebraska's 48-23 victory over Maryland, according to a statement released by the conference.
The error occurred when a roughing the snapper penalty was incorrectly enforced during a missed field goal attempt near the end of the game.
According to the statement, since the field goal attempt was missed, the penalty should have resulted in Nebraska retrying the attempt with the penalty yardage enforced half the distance to the goal.
Instead, the penalty was incorrectly enforced on the subsequent kickoff, allowing the missed field goal to stand.
Poor by me. I'm not gonna blame anybody. It was poor by me.'
Rhule also expressed frustration with the officiating during the game, noting that there were a combined 28 penalties for 247 yards between the two teams.
The officiating crew that worked this game was previously criticized for their handling of the controversial Michigan-Western Michigan game, where they did not follow proper review protocols.
In that game, the Big Ten did not properly follow established replay protocol, leading to an additional play that ultimately resulted in Michigan's victory.
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is now formally appealing the result of the Michigan-Western Michigan game to the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee.
The MAC is requesting that Western Michigan be recognized as the actual winner of the game for purposes of their respective rankings and that corrective action be taken.
The controversy surrounding the officiating in both games has raised questions about the consistency and fairness of the Big Ten's officiating crews.
The Big Ten has not released a statement regarding the Michigan-Western Michigan game since the MAC announced its decision to appeal.
The officiating error in the Nebraska-Maryland game adds to the growing concerns about the consistency and reliability of the Big Ten's officiating crews.
What's confirmed
- Had the protocol been properly followed and the program-feed clock been used, no additional play would have been awarded, and Western Michigan would have won the game, 12-7.
What's still developing
- "I thought it was poorly handled by the officials. I thought it was poorly done by us. You've never heard me say it before, but I was frustrated. There's things I've never had called before. Jim, the head official, tried to talk to me about it. It's a quarterback run, and they're calling defensive holding. Just a lot of things today that were out of character."
- The Big Ten officiating crew that drew criticism in the wake of Michigan's controversial win over Western Michigan is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons once again.
- The Huskers scored their final touchdown of the game to go up 48-23, and the officials enforced the penalty on the ensuing kickoff.
- “The Big Ten explained that the ball touched a player who was out of bounds before the clock reached 00:00, resulting in one additinoal play being awarded. The Big Ten subsequently provided video and audio of the replay, which confirmed the explanation provided to us,” The MAC’s initial statement said.
- Jon Steinbrecher initially released a statement Saturday night saying the conference had reached out to the Big Ten office seeking clarification regarding the review at the end of the game that saw one second added back to the game clock, ultimately leading to the Wolverines’ 47-yard Hail Mary.
- The established replay protocol requires that the game clock displayed on the program feed be used in determining whether time remained.
- As a result, one second was placed back on the game clock and an additional play was awarded.
- It was an error in the application of the established replay protocol governing this specific end-of-game timing situation.
- WMU President Russ Kavalhuna released a statement in response to the MAC’s decision to appeal, saying in part, “being bitter doesn’t make you better and this should not be mistaken for weakness or agreement.” Official statement regarding the Western Michigan-Michigan football game.
- Craig Carton's #1 issue with the Michigan game isn't the Big Ten refs, it's the fact that Michigan fans are ridiculously stupid for storming the field following a controversial win over a MAC team Craig Carton scorched Michigan Wolverines fans for celebrating the team’s controversial victory against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night.
- An emphatic no, says Carton, whose "Craig Carton Show" premieres on OutKick on Tuesday.
- "Now, we already know that Michigan is a corrupt athletic program. We know that it’s a dirty athletic program. We know that coaches like to sleep with coeds there. Coaches like to steal signs there. Coaches like to cheat there. But what I didn’t know as a fact until Saturday night is that that 18-27 year olds that call Michigan their undergraduate home are morons. The fact that you would storm the field when barely beating and, let’s be honest, needing the Big Ten to cheat for you to win the game, the fact that you would storm the field when you won by a single point because you were given an extra second of time while 27-point favorites tells me everything I need to know about the type of kid that goes to Michigan."