Higdon hold call worst you have ever seen?

Submitted by MGoBlue96 on September 29th, 2018 at 8:36 PM

That was legimately the worst call I have ever seen in my 20 years of watching college football. Also can we please have someone blast the big ten officials publicly for the lack of holding calls on UM's dline, it is ridiculous at this point. Big ten officials are by far the worst in the country and it is not even close

LSAClassOf2000

September 29th, 2018 at 10:20 PM ^

Sorry, it was kind of caught in the need to clear out for the Snowflake Threads. In retrospect, there really should be a Snowflake thread for the officiating. Actually, I was thinking about it but didn't create one. Your thought probably would have spurred a lot of discussion there. My bad. 

SkyBlue

September 30th, 2018 at 12:30 AM ^

The Head Linesman needs to be looked at for his calls.  He made a few bad ones in the game that could’ve changed the outcome.  I think he was also the guy who stop the play with 6 seconds to go because the refs weren’t in position. 

Bill22

October 1st, 2018 at 12:06 AM ^

I’ve reached a point where I honestly believe some of these refs were trying to fix this game.  I don’t know how to explain it any other way.  I don’t know what they’re paid by the Big Ten, but it’s not enough.  Whomever paid them must have wanted a money line because they had the 14.5 point spread covered already.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

September 29th, 2018 at 10:55 PM ^

The refs in a Lions game did that and called hands to the face against the Lions on this play:

https://www.totalprosports.com/2016/12/11/jeff-triplette-calls-hands-to-face-on-lions-ol-who-did-absolutely-nothing-video/

I can't decide whether that, or "holding" on a guy who's being tackled on a successful fake, is a more egregiously shitty call.

mfan_in_ohio

September 29th, 2018 at 8:45 PM ^

Yes.  Looked like Eubanks, who pulled across and was on the left side of the field (the linesman on that side is the one that threw the flag), reached out to grab the shoulder pad of one of the NW DL.  

At least it looked like he tried to grab the shoulder pad. Instead all he got was a slap on the guy's shoulder.  So he got 10 yards for attempted holding.  I'm sure it looked like it was going to be holding to the official, but the guy didn't get impeded or spun. 

I think the no-call on Winovich with 10 seconds left was as bad.

mfan_in_ohio

September 29th, 2018 at 10:23 PM ^

It's more plausible than Higdon, who the ref couldn't see, and who was under a pile of players. I agree that Eubanks didn't hold anyone; the only reasons I think the ref called it on him are that his number also ends in 2; he is also black and so is more easily confused for Higdon than, say, Jon Runyan; and he reached out in a way that could have seemed like holding from 30 yards away if he had actually been able to lay more than a fingertip on the guy.

 

It's still a terrible call on Eubanks, but more in the range of "really bad call" compared to "made up bullshit" if it was truly Higdon.

Blue Know It

September 30th, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^

Nope. Harbaugh got immediate clarity just so they couldn’t change it later to cover their ass. The ref clarified the hold was on Michigan running back #22. 

 

I looked here because I had a question regarding this...

 

So I know the school can put in an inquiry to the conference to get clarity on specific calls. Does the public have access to this? If so I’d ewally like to hear this explanation as well as why the ref made Bush move from his spot in the last game (is the coaches request clarity there too)

migoblu

September 30th, 2018 at 2:26 PM ^

I agree. Absolutely, wrong call on Higdon. I have watched that replay a dozen times and I don't see Higdon holding. Watching the replay I did see what looks like a hold from Gentry, not Higdon. Ref got so excited he could call holding on Michigan he got the wrong player.

video at: https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2018/09/many_michigan_fans_say_higdons.html

Hoek

September 29th, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^

I have never seen a RB take a fake hand off.. be tackled.. and called for holding in my thirty plus years of watching football...

 

take  into consideration the non hold call against Hutchinson last week and the non holding call against chase on the third down this week and you can’t tell me there is not a problem with big ten officials 

MichiganTeacher

September 29th, 2018 at 9:10 PM ^

Was last week's crew B1G? Honest question, I think I saw conflicting reports. EDIT: Duh. I forgot that last week was Nebraska. Or maybe I'm just so old I forgot Nebraska was now in the Big Ten. My bad.

I mean there are so many things going at least as far back as OSU 2016. I think it's pretty clear that, consciously or not, the refs play against us. And the B1G obviously plays against us - just look at our schedule.

 

treetown

September 29th, 2018 at 9:21 PM ^

Well - then we've seen two amazing calls that you'll probably never see again in a century of football. (1) A second illegal forward pass that results in a penalty leading to a safety, and (2) a ball carrier being tackled and taken down but called for holding.

I can imagine in some option plays where a fake to a FB then has that some FB grab the DE or LB being optioned when the defensive player realizes that he doesn't have the ball, but the defensive player was the tackler. 

Referring is hard - and a thankless job in most cases. But even they must cringe at these types of calls.