On Monday, two days after a sketchy (at best) offside call overturned a successful onside kick that would have put the Gophers football team in position to upset Michigan, the Big Ten announced that not only had officials messed up but also that new protocols were being put in place for future kicks.
“We submitted the play to the Big Ten coordinator of officials for review,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said of Bill Carollo. “The coordinator informed us the play was too tight to flag.”
Multiple officials instead of only one will now line up on the 35-yard line on kickoffs to ensure they’re “in the best position to consistently make the correct judgment.”
As a result, the Gophers and Michigan will resume their game at an unspecified date with about 90 seconds left and Minnesota in possession of the ball at the Wolverines’ 38, trailing 27-24.
Ah, whoops. Of course they won’t. The game is still over. The Gophers still lost, as I talked about on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast and certainly will talk about more Wednesday with Gophers football writer Randy Johnson.
Now the Gophers are the latest Minnesota team to be on the wrong end of a bad call or bad rule that spurred a change but didn’t alter the outcome of a huge moment.
The one I always think of immediately is the NFL changing how overtime works. The Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game after the 2009 season in overtime after the Saints won the coin toss and kicked the game-winning field goal without the Vikings getting a chance on offense. By 2010, the NFL had modified the rule for the postseason. Spoiler alert: It didn’t help the Vikings.
My friend Jeff Shelman reminded me on Twitter that the NBA only a few weeks ago changed its review system to allow officials to call a foul if it directly impacts an out-of-bounds challenge. The NBA in its news release specifically cited the play in last year’s Western Conference finals Game 2 where Dallas was awarded the ball even though Kyrie Irving clearly fouled Jaden McDaniels. The Wolves were up by two with 47 seconds left at the time. They ended up losing 109-108 and were eventually swept.
