No. 3 Michigan lost the game of the year on Saturday at Ohio State, knocking the Wolverines out of the Big Ten race and probably the Playoff, too. Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh was at turns furious with the on-field officials during the game, and he carried his frustration to his postgame press conference.
Big Ten fines Michigan $10,000 for Jim Harbaugh’s complaints about these calls
The game came down to an official’s review in Ohio State’s favor, and a few key calls went against UM before then, as well.
Monday, the Big Ten “issued a public reprimand” of Harbaugh “for violating the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy” and that Michigan’s been fined $10,000. (Conferences issuing fines for coaches criticizing officials is pretty common.)
At one point, Harbaugh lost his temper after an offside call on Michigan, and his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty helped set up an Ohio State touchdown. He also broke his radio headset, which had to be salt in the wound.
Harbaugh had a few specific beefs beyond that.
The one everyone’s going to remember has to do with the first down awarded to Ohio State one play before Curtis Samuel won the game with a double-overtime touchdown run.
Ohio State kicker Tyler Durbin had missed two short field goals. So when the Buckeyes had a fourth-and-1 from Michigan’s 16-yard line, down a field goal in the second overtime, Urban Meyer kept his offense on the field. J.T. Barrett ran behind his left guard, and two Michigan defenders brought him down right at the first-down line.
From the best angle we have, it’s unclear if Barrett actually got the first down or if the game should’ve been over with a Michigan win right then and there. But the official on the field spotted Barrett beyond the first down at UM’s 15, and there wasn’t enough to overturn such a call on a video review. Harbaugh didn’t like that.
Harbaugh’s not necessarily wrong. But his problem is he’s not necessarily right.
The Michigan coach also took issue with a critical pass-interference call on Michigan safety Delano Hill. It came on a third-and-7 pass from Barrett to Samuel, and it extended what turned out to be a game-tying field goal drive at the end of the fourth quarter. Otherwise, the Buckeyes would’ve faced fourth-and-long.
This call’s a close one, too. My take, personally and without hard proof? Harbaugh is wrong. The ball looked uncatchable in real time, falling short of a necessary condition for a PI call. But in slow motion, it looks as though Samuel could’ve squeezed Wilton Speight’s throw if Hill hadn’t made contact with him ahead of time. It’s pretty tight, though.
Following a similar logic, Harbaugh was also upset that Ohio State wasn’t called on a similar-looking play in overtime. Here’s that one:
This one’s borderline, too. Defensive backs do that sometimes and get away with it, but OSU’s Gareon Conley does contact Michigan’s Grant Perry before the ball arrives, causing an incompletion. It’s tight again.
Earlier in the game, Harbaugh did have an undoubtedly legitimate gripe.
It’s a consistency argument, again.
Michigan got called for defensive holding on this play:
And then Ohio State didn’t get called for it on this one:
Those plays are more or less identical. There’s no good reason Michigan should’ve been flagged for its crime but not Ohio State, because they are effectively the same.
Harbaugh was irate.
He wasn’t wrong to be this upset.
Michigan did have a lot more penalties called on it than on Ohio State.
On its own, that’s not an indicator that anything was unbalanced. But coaches are coaches, and Harbaugh’s a particularly intense breed. That his team had seven penalties for 59 yards — compared with two for 6 yards for Ohio State — is going to make him angry. Same for the point that two close ones went against him so late.
But Ohio State doesn’t have reason to feel guilty. It won squarely, and it probably has a Playoff to get ready for in a couple of weeks.
See More:
