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Michigan Football: Big Ten Admits Some Officiating Woes Against Ohio State

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:07 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Tyler Fenwick/FanSided via GBMWolverine

Nearly a month after it happened, the Big Ten has admitted to the Chicago Tribune that it did miss some calls in Michigan football’s loss to Ohio State.

The game that will continue to be drenched in controversy for a long time to come just came back in the news, as Big Ten coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo admitted the officiating crew missed a couple key calls in Michigan football‘s heartbreaking loss to Ohio State.

Carollo, in a three-hour interview with the Tribune, said there were two obvious misses that went against the Wolverines.

The first of them was a third-down play in the first half where Amara Darboh was held from the start. Wilton Speight tried hitting him a slant route, but Darboh was wrapped up and eventually put on the ground. There was no defensive holding or defensive pass interference called, and according to Carollo, there should have been.

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The second call came in the second half when Jabrill Peppers intercepted J.T. Barrett. Ohio State running back Mike Weber delivered a cheap shot to Michigan’s Brandon Watson.

And that does it for plays in which Carollo said his crew missed a call against the Wolverines.

Notably missing from the list are two plays in overtime. There was Grant Perry who was wrapped up from behind on a third-down throw, and then there was Barrett’s run on fourth down that extended the Buckeyes’ drive and led to the win.

Carollo said the Perry play was 50-50, and the spot given to Barrett wouldn’t have changed one way or the other because of how close it was.

Carollo could have come out and said his crew missed 10 calls that went against Michigan and that the Wolverines should have won the game and gone on to play in the College Football Playoff, and it probably wouldn’t have changed the way fans feel.

For that reason, it’s probably not worth it to be angry that Carollo didn’t side with Michigan on plays like the fourth-down spot. (He also said, according to the article, that when Harbaugh threw his play cards and got called for unsportsmanlike conduct, some of his cards actually landed inside the numbers, which wasn’t clear from the TV feed.)

Probably the only scenario that will help bring any kind of closure to this is if Ohio State gets smacked around by Clemson in the playoff and Michigan beats up on Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

So here’s to that happening.

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