Michigan vs Everybody (including the Officials)

IMO, the Charles White "TD" is  #1 b/c of how blatantly obvious the fumble was. I thought Barret was easily short, but at the bare minimum, the angle of the video and how he twisted his body gives the refs plausible deniability.  

#2 Needs to be to Roman Wilson's TD reversal. CLEARLY, not enough evidence to overturn it, and even then, the explanation for overturning it was made up out of nothing. And it likely cost us a shot at the Championship. 

I believe Colorado got a 5th down against Missouri in 1990 (?) and scored the game winner.  If so, Missouri has seen two of the most egregious calls/mistakes in college football history go against them.  

Big Ten never wanted Harbaugh to succeed. 2016 OSU and 2021 MSU were both fixed. There is simply no other explanation. I think 2015 MSU was as well. Interesting how Staee fans simply gloss over the fact the son of the Big Ten Commissioner was on the MSU football team. 

JT may or may not have been short.  legit arguments can be made for either proposition and i don't begrudge that call. 

HOWEVER, the other 112 (slight hyperbole) egregious penalties by ohio that didn't get called, some of which at incredibly critical times, any one of those goes the other way and we win that game. 

2015 game against MSU.  Joe Bolden got ejected for targeting when an MSU OL threw him on a ball carrier that was already on the ground, and it was made even worse when they reviewed it and still decided to eject him.  It was a call so incompetent I couldnt even get mad about.  All I could do is just laugh.

#6 didn't bother me AS much because I abhorred our goal line calls and we should be able to get the ball in, and sometimes calls like that happen. We always try to punch it in but I prefer a dash to the corners.

JT spot was the wrong call most likely but within the normal margin of error for a football game, so I can't be that mad about it. The previous calls in the game were horribly one-sided including a missed PI on Darboh if I remember correctly.  

The MSU ones listed 3-5 all hurt as they were almost certainly the difference between winning and losing. Also, the cumulative impact of many bad calls in the 2015 game were painful.

I have a hard time getting worked up about the TCU semifinal calls. It seems like the game turned on other plays, even though I get that the turnover would not have happened if the Wilson catch had been called a touchdown. That game was played like basketball, with so many events that the impact of the individual plays is minimized. 

Bias but that TCU thing reminded me... what the F was going on at the end of that game. It was like a rugby scrum at the worst possible time.

Shoving Woodson down to give UW a claim that the clock was effed with and they had another play.

So many in basketball that are infuriating. But basketball refereeing is a completely subjective clown show in every way. Nothing is consistent from play to play, let alone ref to ref or game to game etc..  college basketball refereeing might be some of the worst refereeing I've seen in any sport. 

The old Sparty.. just tackle the WRs on every play because they can't call it on every down style of defense.

1. JT Barrett spot is compounded by incorrect PI call against Michigan (in 4th quarter?) and non-PI calls against OSU in first, second and 4th quarters.

3.5  1995 Michigan MSU game.  On 4th and 11, late in the game, Tony Banks completes a pass.  The ball never gets over the first down mark but the receiver drags his toe over the line and the ref gives him credit for the first down.  With today's replay spot challenge, the ball is two feet short of the first down. Home field call for sure.

6. Still very bitter.  Ball was marked on the wrong (farthest) 49-yard line.  It was change of quarters and referee botches the spot.  That, on top of the wrongful possession/down call.

8.  I only watched the second half.  Announcers said (implied?  I was stunned they were so open) that it was the worst called game they ever saw.  7 blown calls in the second half.  2 against Nebraska, 5 against Michigan.  Gross PI not called against defender on super Mario Manningham on the last drive which would have led to a Michigan victory.

9. Well, it was holding.  Maybe it didn't have to be called but it was holding.  Bo went ballistic because the initial signal was for illegal procedure not holding.  I recall a Michigan TD called back against NW (1996?) during a loss on a phantom holding call. 

Phantom PI OSU Miami - same call was made in 2nd quarter to assist Miami with their TD.  PI call kept Miami drive alive. As controversial as that 4th quarter call was it was also consistent.

Nebraska wouldn't be on the list if he just pitched the damn ball...

The spot, as BS as it was, wasn't even the most egregious of officiating biases in that game...

Only been a fan since 06 but 21 MSU is definitely the most egregious for me. Not just the fumble overturn, but the second 2-point conversion where Reed lost the ball and the missed hold on 4th and 4 were clear mistakes that affected the result.

Actually, in that 2015 Michigan - Michigan State game, we got severely fucked by the refs, and THEN the trouble with the snap moment happened too.  Just an awful game to watch all around.  

Damn, I really was on a high after watching Haskins trample OSU on the BTN, then I read this.  So nice to be reminded of these things.

The 2005 Michigan-Nebraska Alamo Bowl is, without a doubt, the worst-officiated game I’ve ever seen.

And I was AT the Northwestern game in 2018 when Higdon was called for holding after HE was tackled, the “penalty from Mars.”

One that ultimately didn't end up being consequential but to this day I still don't understand what the ref saw was Karan Higdon against Northwestern a few years ago. I think it was 2018. All of a sudden he got called on a hold out of the middle of nowhere, and even Joel Klatt said afterwards "That was a holding call from Mars." 

I don't think Higdon was even anywhere near the vicinity of the play

Damn, that was some trauma reading those and remembering how I felt at those moments.

Agree with some of the comments above.  Just like people in all 50 states think "If you don't like the weather here, wait 5 minutes..." is a unique-to-their-state thing, I'm sure every college program has a list of equally painful losses they chalk up to the refs.

i don't know, man.  sometimes a call is so, SO close that there's no "right" call, and you're going to get fried by one side or the other.

the lantry field goal falls into that category - you can't really even say it was a blown call, let alone an outright screwing.

i might even say that about the j.t. barrett spot, honestly (ducks).  it still hurts, and i think we made the play, but i also see where you could place it that way on the field in the moment.  sometimes it's just an incredibly close call that just doesn't go your way.

some of the others, though - yeah, screwed.  i'm still pissed about spartan bob.

i seem to recall being present for a critical walter smith catch in east lansing in 1992 (?) that was called incomplete, too, although i can't remember the details.  there's a thing we say - weird things happen at minnesota...but something about the hellmouth that is spartan stadium that just leads to screw jobs.

Good list overall.  The JT spot shouldn't have even taken place:  Look at the play immediately before that one, and count the number of times the officials failed to call holding and illegal blocks in the back, on that one play.

I'm a double grad of UM, but I take issue with "Phantom PI call against Miami 2003 NC OSU-YTM."  It should have been called as defensive holding, which would have had the same result.