The Big Ten officiating crew that drew criticism in the wake of Michigan’s controversial win over Western Michigan is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons once again.
On Monday night, the Big Ten released a statement saying the crew “incorrectly officiated” a roughing the snapper penalty at the end of Nebraska’s blowout win over Maryland. The Huskers scored their final touchdown of the game to go up 48-23, and the officials enforced the penalty on the ensuing kickoff.
Nebraska kicker Kyle Cunanan missed the extra point, and according to the conference, he should have been allowed to retry the kick.
“The missed attempt took place after Nebraska took a 48-23 lead when roughing the snapper was called during play,” the Big Ten said in a statement. “Since the attempt was missed, by rule, the penalty should have resulted in Nebraska retrying the attempt with the penalty yardage enforced half the distance to the goal. However, the miss was allowed to stand and the penalty yardage was incorrectly enforced on the subsequent kickoff.”
Much of that same officiating crew — including referee Jim Wharrie, head linesman Ric Hinkamper, back judge Jeff Latkiewicz, side judge Grady Smith and field judge Kyle Debuse — oversaw the controversial ending in Ann Arbor just a few weeks earlier. In that game, the crew didn’t follow proper review protocols when determining whether a second should be added onto the clock for one final play.
During his Monday press conference, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule went into more detail about the penalty. Rhule said an official approached him about enforcing the penalty on the kickoff. The Nebraska coach asked for clarification about whether Cunanan made the kick, and a series of miscommunications ensued.
The scoreboard says Michigan won. In Kalamazoo, Western Michigan’s victory lives on
Richard Johnson
“I asked the official,” Rhule explained. “He said, ‘Do you want it on the kickoff?’ From my angle, I couldn’t really see it, so I said, ‘Did he make it?’ The official said, ‘Yeah, he made it.’ So I said, ‘We’ll take it on the kickoff.’
“Then it was 48. I said, ‘Why is it 48?’ He said, ‘He missed it.’ I said, ‘I just asked you this.’ Poor by me. I’m not gonna blame anybody. It was poor by me.”
Those were only Rhule’s latest comments about the officiating in that game. In the immediate aftermath, Rhule was befuddled by how the game was called, which resulted in a combined 28 penalties for 247 yards between the two teams.
“I thought it was ridiculous,” Rhule said. “I thought it was poorly handled by the officials. I thought it was poorly done by us. You’ve never heard me say it before, but I was frustrated. There’s things I’ve never had called before. Jim, the head official, tried to talk to me about it. It’s a quarterback run, and they’re calling defensive holding. Just a lot of things today that were out of character.”
