Utah has had a massively disappointing campaign, starting 1-4 in Big 12 play when it was expected to compete for the conference title in its first season as a member.
But the Utes had the opportunity to pull off a major upset against rival and current Big 12 frontrunner BYU on Saturday night. Trailing by two, the Cougars faced a fourth and 10 deep in its own territory with the game on the line.
The play seemingly failed twice, but the first was waved off due to a timeout apparently called before the snap. The second saw a sack taken off the board after a controversial holding call.
In an unorthodox situation, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan took the podium at the postgame press conference to tear into the Big 12 officiating crew.
“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.”
Harlan didn’t take questions or further elaborate, but it’s pretty obvious he was talking about the fourth down play. Coach Kyle Whittingham wasn’t quite as bombastic in his postgame comments, though he did kick a chair on his way out of the press room.
“Couldn’t get that last stop when we needed it, unfortunately,” he said. “That’s kind of been the story for several games.”
It was a hard loss to swallow in a rough campaign for the Utes, which fell to 1-5 in Big 12 play.
Update: Harlan was fined $40,000 and will receive a public reprimand from the Big 12, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.