I know I am going to get a TON of hate on this just because everyone knows I am a Notre Dame fan but I like to think that I am a reasonable college football fan on top of everything. That being said a lot of the things I am going to mention in the article were uttered by actual Michigan fans, so keep that in mind. But that aside let’s just say this…man what a game! But let’s dive into the question at hand.
Well the quick answer is no. The refs did not cost Michigan that game. There are things that constantly plagued Michigan the entire season that came back to bite them in the butt. Yes, the obvious question is mostly centered around the final play of the game. Was it targeting? Should Michigan had another chance to score? I will say this, if they had gotten another chance the likelihood of them scoring was quite high because in both bowl games there was very little defense. I thought for sure that Michigan’s defense would be able to stop TCU’s offense. Yes, I know they are a Big12 team, and they tend to have pretty high-powered offenses, but they had never seen a defense the caliber of Michigan’s all season. I did expect Michigan’s offense to score pretty much at will against TCU’s defense. So that goes to say that I didn’t expect to see a track meet or even for the over to hit, but offense was the name of the game. This brings me to my first point. Michigan’s defense was among the best in the country so if they made a couple more stops, like they had all year, this wouldn’t be an issue and they would be playing for a National Title.
Let’s talk some more about Michigan’s offense. I have been saying all season that their lack of red zone production is going to come back and hurt them, but I didn’t think it would have been this big of an issue. Fumbles near the goal line, settling for field goals, amongst other things reared their ugly heads BIG TIME. You can argue the fact that they shouldn’t have even needed to run plays that lead to fumbles because it was a touchdown before that. Well, here is the deal. You are a BIG10 team that loves to run the ball. Your offense is based on running the ball. It shouldn’t have been an issue. Especially with the defense that they were lining up against. Even though they put up a ton of points if they had converted these plays like they had all season this is a win. This is the reason Michigan lost that game. Not the officials, not missed calls, and not a TCU bias. Handle your business on the field and the refs won’t come into play.
So was that a targeting call? I honestly believe it was. I am not sure what that player was even thinking or why he even did that. But if anything this season has taught me is that I have no idea what a targeting foul is…even with replay. But let me pose this question Michigan fan. What about the illegal forward pass? Would that have negated the targeting call and they would have replayed the down? I know this would have given another play but I will admit as well I am not a rules expert so I am not sure.
****
Until next time, check out the podcast and YouTube channel. Search The Turbo and 2ks show wherever you get your podcast content or go to www.youtube.com/turboand2ks to watch the livestreams every Sunday.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.