I had every tab on ND Nation open at the same time so I thought I'd be productive with it. Feel free to use this as message board ammunition in perpetuity.

This might be a little defensive but if it is… well, okay. One of the internet* Notre Dame fan's favorite rhetorical gambits—other than putting (sucks) after Michigan, which how clever 35-year old cubemonkey, how clever—is to declare that Michigan fans are paranoid nutters about the refereeing, whiners that "never actually lose a game." This is not surprising, since the internet Notre Dame fan's primary MO is to attack in others what he hates in himself. During the brief period when Lloyd Carr and Charlie Weis were both coaching the schools in question, this sort of person would refer to Carr as "man boobs" without irony. QED.

Here's a brief survey of ND Nation in the aftermath of Michigan's 38-34 win this weekend that should—but won't—forever put this meme to rest.

One:

The overturn of Allen's TD was the difference in the game---literally. And there is no way anyone can possibly justify overturning it. If it was anything it was inconclusive. Worst overturn of a call I've ever seen.

The other calls were horseshit, but there is manslaughter and there is premeditated murder. That pile of crap had several minutes to view what everyone else saw and he still overturned it. There had to be bias in his decision.

Two:

Those refs did their part to keep Michigan in that game. We could have overcome it and should have, but the referees tilted that game severely, especially in the first half.

Three:

Swarbrick needs to fix this officiating mess. …

The Ref's farted as they ran by Charlie.

They were heard cackling down the tunnel as Charlie begged for one more second.
Pathetic. …

We should have won this game - no doubt (our ineptitude vs. their talent).
But, the officials screwed us on a number of occassions.
Do you think they call the Sam Young call at ND? Do you think they might call a personal foul on UM when they punch Floyd in the face at ND? What about one of the numerous holding calls on Tate?
Despite the buttplugging by the refs, we still should have won this game, but that does not excuse the officiating. Never forget!!!

Four:

To confirm: they were Big 10 refs?

reply: Did you watch the game? That should have been enough.

reply: Big 10. Head ref Bill Lemonnier's home address: Ann Arbor *

Five:

And when you are playing with Big 10 refs, you had darned well better win big, because every call will go the other way.

Six, on the Allen unsportsmanlike conduct:

Absurd
by BIG MAC (2009-09-12 21:10:49) Delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Especially given the no flag on Michigan after their TD. Even Rodriguez was worried about a flag on his team, but he really shouldn't have. I am usually not one to complain about refs but there were some blatant inequities today.

reply: horseshit call, eerily reminiscent of the penalty against Bobby Brown in 99.

Seven:

ND had a 70/30 chance to connect on that play. Unfortunately the other 20% that Weis accounted for didn't come into play as the refs decided to allow Warren to interfere with Tate by grabbing him by the waist before the ball arrived. At worst that should have been a PI and a new set of downs which would have ended the game.

Eight:

He rallied from 2 score deficits twice despite egregious referree calls

reply: I blame this loss squarely on the B10 officiating.

Nine:

Besides, allowing a kick return and getting jobbed eight ways from Tuesday by the goddamned Big n refs had a lot to do with this loss too.

reply: Here are just a few of the huge ways in which the refs affected the outcome (please add the ones I'm forgetting):
1. Incorrect overturn of Allen TD.
2. Horrendous holding call on Rudolph's 72 yard gain.
3. Unsportsmanlike call on Allen on 2-point conversion for doing nothing but putting his index finger up to his mouth (count how many times you see that over the course of this season - if it results in a penalty more than 1% of the time, I'd be shocked), which gave UM amazing field position when they needed it most.
4. This probably didn't matter because we only would've had one more play from out own 46, but the ball clearly hit out of bounds by the yellow secondary line with 1 second still remaining on the clock (which is funny because the ex post facto justification being presented on the ESPN Scoreboard show is that the ball didn't hit anything out of bounds before the clock hit zero.

Ten:

The officials set the tone
by RJD (2009-09-12 22:41:42) cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

There is still still no proof Allen was o.t.b.

reply:

The Big 10 investigated their gambling Refs in 2008
by Hipster (2009-09-12 22:57:19) cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

So anyone who says its just sour grapes to wonder about this game are suckers. I'm not saying they were crooked today. I am saying that there has been enough evidence of fishy behavior to warrant recent investigations.

Eleven:

Yes, we got a lot of bad calls against us today. But that's par for the course. You have to play through those.

reply: We should have won despite this, but our men were not perfect, and played against an extra adversary. The emotion at the beginning of the game would have had no effect but for the poor replay decision to overturn Allen's touchdown, and that taunting call was pure BS.

reply: "We wanted it. Michigan wanted it more." Should be followed by:the refs wanted it the most.

Twelve:

I would not play Michigan anymore
by RJD (2009-09-12 20:23:55)

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The officials are rubes. Can anyone explain the reversal of the Allen TD?

*(I specify "internet" because most of the Notre Dame fan's I've met in real life are perfectly fine, far more than any other fanbase I've come across. It's just the wackos who are seriously wacko.)

Thirteen:

if we were a member of the big 10/11 we would have won today *
by jutaw22mu (2009-09-12 20:28:41)

reply to guy's reply to him:

The officiating was blatantly corrupt.
by jutaw22mu (2009-09-12 20:42:59) Delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Michigan had no questionable calls against them. How is it possible that our experienced OL gets all of those holding penalties while Michigan's does not? Allen had a TD in the first half...that was a momentum-changing play (we get a FG and on the next play UM takes it to the house). What about the 72 yard gain by Rudolph that was nullified by a 'holding' penalty? The very last play of the game was icing on the cake...there were really 11 seconds, not 9 and the timeout was called by Weis with 1 sec to go.
Just to be clear, I am not advocating that we join the Big 10/11, however it's time to get NCAA refs to do interleague games. The Big 10 told those officials Michigan was going to win before the game and that is what happened.

Fourteen pulls a Rosenberg:

I am not one to blame bad calls on costing a team a loss. In football, bad calls are made. God knows I've seen my share.

But, I can't help but feeling like ND was screwed by completely inconsistent application of the rules.

Golden Tate gets his arm(on one play, body grabbed on the other long pass) hooked on one long play, no call. Forcier toss the lob over Sergio Brown, same contact, penalty.

Brown gets called for defensive holding on one series. Floyd gets bumped and held, and we hear "uncatchable ball".

It is the degree of the inconsistency of the calls that makes me feel it was home cooking ref job.

Maybe I am just bitter.

Fifteen:

There should have been 11 seconds on the clock when ND got the ball. The refs allowed it to run down to 9. After Tate's reception there should have been 1 second on the clock and the refs made off like the great escape.

Granted a hail mary probably doesn't work but to me those calls just capped what we saw all afternoon. And you know I could even overlook that if there had been some balance shown by the refs instead all I Michigan being allowed to get away with murder while teh refs literally invented calls, or closed their eyes, to infractions committed by the home team.

reply:

Llloyd was famous for that move.
by irishrock (2009-09-12 20:15:21) Delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Run to the sideline to shake hands when time is still on the clock because the pussy Big 10 refs would never make him go back to the sideline.

Sixteen:

Any independent observer saw the refs screw ND several times. -- Why did they run off the field at the end of the game? [Editor's note: probably because it was over.]

Seventeen:

It just hurts, and it feels like something beautiful just
by 1NDGal (2009-09-12 19:56:50)

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died, and nothing will take away this loss. Calling each other names won't help, and dissing individual players is wrong-headed. We just have to acknowledge that we lost a game we should have won, regardless of crooked refs, and something is just wrong. Michigan won this game because we lost, but nonetheless we lost.

Eighteen, on Allen taunting to the crowd, a move that gets called 100% of the time:

Big 10 officials, A total Disgrace *

reply:

Bullshit call, just like in 1999.
by ND_Rumpus (2009-09-12 19:58:16) Delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Big Ten suckjob out there. I am amazed we agree to big ten refs for the series.
That and overturning the first TD with the phantom foot out of bounds by allen on the screen play.... ridiculous.

Nineteen:

There is no God. *
by theTwerp (2009-09-12 19:48:59)

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God helps those who help themselves. *
by 1NDGal (2009-09-12 19:50:01) cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

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And B10 refs help the rest*
by TMurph (2009-09-12 19:52:01) Delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

*

Twenty:

KW [Kevin White] is the one who "negotiated" the buyout and the one who "negotatiated" a contract that used B11 officials. While this game should've been won, the utterly bogus replay reversal was, in and of itself, decisive. Add in the double standards on PI, holding, etc, and you get the point.

Aaaaaand the grand finale:

We just witnessed a rape

by RJD (2009-09-12 19:32:42)

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Young pancaked guys but was called for holding.
The Allen screen TD replay had no evidence to overturn.
The TD did not deserve a penalty.

Point made at laborious length, right? I've got a dozen more tabs open from one Notre Dame message board over the course of two hours.