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Did not take long. From the Detroit Free Press:
Big Ten commish calls pylon ruling 'not acceptable'; punishment possible
By SHANNON SHELTON • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 26, 2008
PARK RIDGE, Ill. — Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said the decision by a replay official to award Michigan’s Brandon Minor with a touchdown against Michigan State on Saturday, overruling the on-field referee’s call, was “not acceptable.”
“The people in the replay booth made a mistake,” Delany said while meeting with reporters at the conference’s basketball media day Sunday. “It wasn’t a mistake of judgment; it was a mistake of an application of the rule. They applied the wrong rule and they applied it improperly.”
Minor leaped to make a 19-yard catch from Steven Threet and landed out of bounds, causing the on-field referee to rule the play incomplete. The replay official overturned the call, saying Minor’s foot hit the pylon. According to NCAA rules, however, an airborne player that touches a pylon is considered out of bounds.
The touchdown tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter, but ultimately didn’t affect the game’s outcome. MSU won, 35-21, at Michigan Stadium.
“I expect more from them than that,” Delany said. “You can understand a mistake of judgment on the field, and you can even understand possibly not getting the standard right because we want indisputable video evidence that a play is wrong. But to apply the wrong rule to a situation is not acceptable to me.”
Delany said disciplinary action was possible.
“I haven’t decided yet, but we may,” he said. “I doubt if we do anything publicly, but there has to be an understanding that we expect on the field and in the booth 100% knowledge of the rules, applying the right rule to the right situation. You might make a mistake in terms of judgment, but I expect our officials to know the rules and apply the right rule to the right situation. We didn’t do that, and that’s not acceptable.”
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