After BYU's dramatic 22-21 win over Utah, Utah director of athletics Mark Harlan took the stage to claim that the referees 'stole' the game from Utah. Harlan's
After BYU's dramatic 22-21 win over Utah, Utah director of athletics Mark Harlan took the stage to claim that the referees "stole" the game from Utah. Harlan's comments, at least from someone in his position, are unprecendented in the history of the BYU-Utah rivalry.
"This game was absolutely stolen from us," Harlan said. "We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight we are not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. I'm very disappointed. I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I'm disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight. Thank you.
Below is a clip of the play in question. BYU wide receiver Jojo Phillips was being defended by Zemaiah Vaughn who was called for the penalty.This was a 4th down sack to end the game, but called defensive holdingA few plays later, Retzlaff connected with star wide receiver Chase Roberts for a 30-yard gain to get BYU to midfield. Two plays later, BYU was suddenly in field goal position.
The conspiracy floated by Mark Harlan is not necessarily backed up by the box score. Both teams were flagged 10 times in this game. There were multiple calls in the first half that aided a few Utah scoring drives. While the late flag on Utah certainly came at a critical point in the game, questioning the professionalism of the referee crew is not a good look for the conference.
Whether you agree with the call or not, Mark Harlan's comments are detrimental to the entire Big 12 conference. To have an AD question the legitimacy of a conference game is unacceptable. The Big 12 and commissioner Brett Yormark will have to do some damage control.Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.
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