The Game wasn't over, it just looked that way. (NY times)

[bmbmd]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/sports/ncaafootball/30lateral.html

A day after a wild, lateral-filled ending to the Alamo Bowl, David Parry, the N.C.A.A.'s national coordinator for officiating, said that the officials should have thrown flags because Michigan and Nebraska had too many players on the field as the final play unfolded.

Nevertheless, Parry said, the mistake did not affect the outcome of the game, because the penalties by each team would have offset each other, and because time had expired. Parry said that the officials should have explained to each team why the game had ended so abruptly.


"Simply what you had was too many men on the field by Nebraska - a whole slew of them - and Michigan had two or three extra men out there," Parry said in a telephone interview last night. "Since both teams had too many men and both teams fouled, it was an offsetting penalty, and the game was over. I think it might have been wise to throw penalty flags and to announce, to say, that it was an offsetting penalty, the game was over."

After the game, Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr complained about the finish. "I think it was obvious that there was a violation of the rules," he said, according to a statement released by the university.

Parry said that if the officials had felt that the runners were forced to alter their course to avoid Nebraska's extra players, they would have called a penalty

[Hokie]

1. Is Parry Correct?

Would the game have been over or would there be one more untimed play? Not that it matters since the chances of Michigan pulling out a miracle would have been extremely small.

[Hobarticus]

2. Seeing lots of crappy officiating these days, in pro and college sports

What's the deal?

[underpants]

3. IF they had made it to the endzone this would matter

but since at the end the UM guy just sort of ran towards the sidline and then was knocked out and down by NEbraska players it doesn't matter so you are left with the coach of one of THE premier football programs whining about something that doesn't matter and the fact that they wouldn't have even been in THAT bowl game without officials giving them 2 seconds back in the the Penn State game is something no one wants to mention.

Put a sock in it Carr. You coach at Michigan they expect you to beat Ohio State and play for the national championship. If you can't stand it (and OSU has a coach comparable to their talent now) maybe you should look into a job somewhere else.

[realisticphish]

4. Michigan has NEVER lost a game

it's always those gosh darn officials cheating...

[LisaM]

5. Ah, here comes the Michigan bashing.......

I have never figured out the hatred for Michigan. Good school (public), supports affirmative action, does a lot of good, has a liberal faculty, has excellent academics and premier resesarch, and is located in an almost utopian town. We also have relatively few national championships and have turned up such likeable and socially conscious people as Arthur Miller and James Earl Jones. So why the hatred?

[realisticphish]

6. the hatred has nothing to do with non-sports stuff

honestly. Michigan has one of the country's best psych programs, and is an all-around good school.

What pisses people off is the seeming unwillingness of a large proportion of michigan (football) fans to conceptualize themselves losing a game. When (most) sports teams lose, (most) fans will say "we fucked up, we lost, they outplayed us, we beat ourselves, etc." But it seems that a large number of Michigan fans ALWAYS find something to deflect blame... the other team cheated, the officials were bad, etc, etc.

Now, of course, there are many Michigan fans who are gracious losers, and CERTAINLY many fans of other teams that always find an excuse. But in my long history of discussing sports with Michigan fans, there seems to be a larger proportion of Michigan fans who do this than with other teams.

So, I see it as a vicous cycle. People see Michigan fans as making excuses, people hate on Michigan for that reason, Michigan fans see no reason for this hate, then think officials hate them, they make excuses, etc. etc, into infinity.

Do I hate Michigan? No. They are our (Ohio St.) biggest rivals, so of course I have the normal animosity warranted by such a big rivalry. But I don't want Michigan players to die, or throw things at people that wear Michigan clothes, or say they are a shitty school. (This opinion, as opposed to popular opinion, is true of 99.5% of OSU fans). I am just able to seperate sports and education

edit: also, the stuff in this thread can hardly considered broad michigan bashing... the opinion of most people in this matter seems to be "stop whining", not "we hate michigan"

[1gobluedem]

7. Have you ever met a Michigan State fan?

Obnoxious barely begins to describe it.

I'm a Michigan grad and fan and, while I don't like it when we lose, I mind less when it's fair and square. But nobody can deny some terrible calls that have cost Michigan crucial games. The phantom touchdown in the 1979 Rose Bowl? MSU tackling Desmond Howard before he had a chance to catch a game-winning two point conversion and NO FLAG? The three second long single second courtesy of Spartan Bob and no call?

These things happen to Michigan a lot. That's why Michigan fans complain and that's why we ask why there appears to be such a bias against us.