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Go Michigan

Yup -- I'm trying out the new DVD recorder for this game. It'll be a nice little test run for next year's Falcon games.

Now if Michigan would only come up with some hot reads maybe they could cover the spread. I can't remember the last time I saw Michigan use a pressure release that wasn't a called screen. Henne's a pinata back there.

That was nearly the most amazing end to a game that anyone will ever see. If Michigan had scored there, it would have eclipsed Cal/Stanford, the Music City Miracle, Iowa/LSU from last year, etc. If Ecker had lateralled one more time, they would have scored. Maybe it should have been a penalty on Nebraska, but there were alot of Michigan players out there as well.

I am not a Michigan fan, so don't flame me for partly blaming this loss on the officials. The Sun Belt officials and whoever was in charge of the replays tonight proved why they are doing Sun Belt games and not working in the big time (or even the MAC for that matter). No way should those idiots be allowed to do another bowl game EVER. Forcing Michigan to waste 2 TO's for reviews is ridiculous.

It's going to sound like complaining, but I agree that was the most poorly officiated game I have ever seen. They missed a clear fumble on Nebraska's first touchdown drive, they blew the kick call interference when the kid legally hit Breaston, they missed 2 false starts, the timeouts insteaed of reviewing obviously questionable calls, the blatant pass interference at the end of the game, they let 10 seconds run off the clock before starting the game clock when Nebraska punted in the final minute, and they were slow to blow the whistle or make a decision countless other times. This isn't even counting the debacle at the end when Nebraska's entire sideline cut off half of the field during the final play. How can they justify not calling anything? Even offsetting penalties would have been OK. Something must be called there.


Of course it's Michigan's own fault they lost, with turnovers and terrible 4th quarter defense (again). Why the hell didn't ecker give the ball to Breaston and block for him down the sideline. Breaston would have scored easily. What a frustrating season.

Tirico said very early on in the game that they were Sun Belt officials and it would be interesting to see how they performed on a field with better athletes than they have ever seen. Needless to say, they failed miserably. I think the blown 10 seconds at the end of the game plus the loss of 2 timeouts crushed Michigan. It should have been a moot point because Michigan should not have lost the 11 point lead in the fourth quarter, though.

To tie this back to BG, if we are ever in competition with a Sun Belt school for a recruit, I think we should bring this game up to the recruit. "Do you really want to play football in a conference with incompetent officials such as this?" MAC officials are awful, but those guys last night looked like Pop Warner refs.

Hell, why not start stealing recruits from Michigan by saying "Do you really want to go to a school that will break your heart with blown lead after blown lead in the fourth quarter?"

Sorry, but I'm glad to see Michigan lose. Friggin' Big Tenleven.

Ditto, 1987!!!!

When the whole Big Ten (11) goes 5-7, I'll be a happy man!!

Does anyone know if they were a SunBelt 'crew' or just a group of SunBelt officials?

As a former offical, that makes a big difference in working the game. Working with the same crew throughout the season typically will result in a better officiated game. If they just picked SunBelt officials and not a crew, it would be a contributing factor to the blatant incompentence.

Even worse, one wonders if they just picked some officials who then worked the game in positions that they weren't familiar with.

On the last play, why isnt' that done more often? I hate when a team receives a kick-off with 5 seconds to go and just tries a straight run-back. Do something crazy, you're going to lose anyway.

Although the way that game went, if Michigan would have scored they probably would have found something in review to call back the TD.

Lord_Byron wrote:As a former offical, that makes a big difference in working the game. Working with the same crew throughout the season typically will result in a better officiated game. If they just picked SunBelt officials and not a crew, it would be a contributing factor to the blatant incompentence.

Even worse, one wonders if they just picked some officials who then worked the game in positions that they weren't familiar with.

I'd buy the second argument about a zillion times more than the first. I've never officiated, but I know plenty of high school officials. While the "crew" idea brings a comfort level, and likely affects how you cover your area, if you're in position to make calls, you should make them, regardless of how well you know the rest of the crew. I rarely saw that bunch huddle to discuss anything, especially when it came down to it. If you're in a different position than you normally are (which I can't believe they'd select random officials and put them in different spots), then maybe you miss a couple. But the way that was handled down the stretch was atrocious.

That said, the whole not putting teams away when they had the chance and playing soft down the stretch has been the Michigan way all year. You'd think with a month to practice, they wouldn't let that bite them in the ass again.

That's been the Michigan way for 6 or 7 years now. They rarely have less talent than the opponent, but they always manage to lose 3-4 games a year. Probably time to take a look at the staff.

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:That's been the Michigan way for 6 or 7 years now. They rarely have less talent than the opponent, but they always manage to lose 3-4 games a year. Probably time to take a look at the staff.

NO PLEASE STAY LOYD CARR. I'm sure Tressell Loves beating his ass 4 out of every 5 years.!