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I will start this comment by indicating I am a Michigan fan.
I felt this was one of the worst officiated college football games I have witnessed in a major conference.
First, there is the judgment of the 4th and 1 placement in OT. I still don't think the ball actually got to the line, but that is a judgment call and we have to live with that decision.
Second, the lack of offensive holding calls, when several obvious holding calls were missed. I have been watching football for over 30 years and I can never recall watching a game without at least 1 offensive holding call during the game. I went back through the play by play and not 1 single offensive holding was called all game long.
Third, the lack of line of scrimmage movement calls. There were several instances where there was movement by the offensive team (both teams) prior to the snap that was not call. One of these was on an early Michigan TD where one of the backs was clearly in motion prior to the snap, and it was not called. There were also several instances were the offensive lineman moved early and it wasn't called.
Next, inconsistency in the pass defense calls. When they made calls, they generally were good calls, but there were numerous instances where the defense made clearly illegal contact on a receiver it was not flagged.
Finally, there were several rulings which I can find a rules justification for. One is the charged timeout to OSU.
I'm not saying the crew was completely out of touch. Harbaugh absolutely should have been flagged for USC when he was. The flag wasn't for the throwing the objects, for the F-bomb he dropped when he threw the stuff. In fact I only saw one flag thrown that I questioned in this game, and having watched the replays as well. The calls they made were generally good, it was what was not called both ways that was he issue. Too much was let go that impacted the game both ways.
I will end by saying Michigan did not lose because of officiating. They lost because of two terrible passes by the QB, and a fumble which cost them a likely TD which would have seriously swung momentum in their favor. Michigan simply did not make the plays that OSU did.
Finally, I do have an issue with this crew being assigned to the game. This crew apparently has three members from either Michigan or Ohio, two of which (1 from each school) that have clearly demonstrated fan connections to the schools in question. In a game of this magnitude the Big Ten Conference should not have had anything that resembles a conflict of interest. This falls squarely on the conference for their assigning and not on the officials.
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