The Big Ten has admitted another officiating mistake from the same crew that handled Michigan’s controversial finish against Western Michigan, and this time the issue came at the end of Nebraska’s lopsided win over Maryland.
Late in Monday night’s game, Nebraska scored to stretch its lead to 48-23, and a roughing the snapper penalty was then enforced on the kickoff. But the conference said that wasn’t the proper application of the rule. Because Nebraska kicker Kyle Cunanan missed the extra point, the penalty should have given the Huskers a retry on the kick with the yardage enforced half the distance to the goal.
Instead, the miss stood and the penalty yardage was applied on the ensuing kickoff.
“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.”
The same group of officials - referee Jim Wharrie, head linesman Ric Hinkamper, back judge Jeff Latkiewicz, side judge Grady Smith and field judge Kyle Debuse - also worked the Michigan-Western Michigan finish that drew scrutiny when the crew did not follow the proper review protocol on whether one more second should have been put on the clock for a final play.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule addressed the situation in his Monday press conference and described a chain of confusion over how the penalty was being handled. He said an official first asked about putting the penalty on the kickoff, and when Rhule tried to confirm whether Cunanan had made the extra point, the answers got crossed.
“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.”
Rhule had already voiced his frustration right after the game, when he pointed to the overall officiating and the volume of flags. The two teams combined for 28 penalties and 247 yards.
“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.”
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The swing really started before halftime, when defensive back Dwayne McDougle turned an interception into a pick-six that gave Nebraska a lead it would not give back. Even with some missed tackles along the way, the Cornhuskers closed it out and moved to 5-0 for the first time since 2016, another sign that this start is looking a little more real by the week. [Read more 🡒]