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College Football Fans Accuse Referees of Favoring Michigan During Oklahoma Game

Coming out of last week's officiating controversy in Michigan, once again some fans think the stripes are helping out the Wolverines in their game against Oklahoma.
James Parks|
USA TODAY Sports

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Michigan WolverinesOklahoma Sooners

All eyes are on how the officials perform in Saturday’s game with Michigan on the field against SEC contender Oklahoma after what transpired at the Big House a week ago, and early on, the general consensus was that the stripes were helping them again.

A negative view of the officiating started developing on social media following what was already a notable early flag count and, in particular, some pass interference calls against the Sooners defense that helped bail out the Michigan offense when facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Refs Intervene to Help Michigan, Or Did They?

Facing a 3rd and 9 situation from their own 23-yard line, the Wolverines offense was in trouble and needed a completion from quarterback Bryce Underwood, but moments after his pass fell incomplete, the officials called pass interference on the Oklahoma defense.

Penalty Leads to a Michigan Touchdown

Later in the first quarter, the Michigan offense once again was facing a third down from around midfield when officials intervened, this time calling another pass interference against Sooners defensive back Courtlans Guillory that gave the Wolverines a first down that drew ire from some fans on social media.

Whatever it was, soon after, Michigan was in better position to score a touchdown, as Underwood did from 38 yards out, the longest TD rush of his career, and a much-needed morale boost for him and the offense after last week.

Targeting, then no targeting

The general feeling around the officiating in the game took a different negative turn when Oklahoma safety Michael Boganowski was initially called for targeting after a hard hit against Underwood, but the penalty was later overturned after review, drawing some ire from Sooner fans, too.

Admittedly, it would seem unusual that these particular officials would want to help Michigan, considering the crew on the field is from the SEC, as per the terms of the deal that allows road teams to have officials from their conference call the game, but that won’t stop people from thinking Michigan is getting help after what happened last week.

The situation has been hugely amplified by massive controversy: Michigan’s 13-12 win over Western Michigan hinged on Big Ten officials restoring one second after a Hail Mary attempt that appeared to end with zeros on the clock and TV feed, leading to a second, and finally successful, Hail Mary play.

It’s bound to result in some early overreaction from fans watching how officials call Michigan games more closely than ever.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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