SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah athletic director Mark Harlan blasted the Big 12 officiating crew following BYU’s 22-21 win over the Utes on Saturday night for controversial calls on the Cougars’ winning drive.
Harlan took the podium shortly before players and coach Kyle Whittingham arrived.
“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
Utah appeared to have stopped BYU twice on fourth down on the final drive. Both times, the play was wiped out by officials.
BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw an incomplete pass in the end zone but the play was blown dead a few seconds after the snap because officials said BYU called a timeout before the snap.
Then Junior Tafuna and Karene Reid sacked Retzlaff on the replayed fourth down. Their sack was negated when Utes cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn was called for holding.
BYU earned a fresh set of downs and marched down the field. Retzlaff completed passes to Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter and then Hinckley Ropati ran 14 yards to help set up Will Ferrin’s winning 44-yard field goal with four seconds left.
Ferrin’s third and final field goal completed BYU’s rally from an 11-point halftime deficit. The Cougars scored their lone offensive touchdown with 12:35 remaining.
“I don’t know what else to say about it,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “That’s the game of football. You can’t hold people. So I didn’t see it because I’m not watching the whole field, but I’ll take a look at it and I’m sure I’ll find some other holdings over there that weren’t called.”
Whittingham shared Harlan’s ire over the officiating after the game.
“Things out there were ridiculous,” Whittingham said. “That’s how I’ll leave it.”
Utah and BYU each were whistled for 10 penalties. The Utes totaled 90 penalty yards while the Cougars finished with 67 penalty yards.
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John Coon, The Associated Press