The Arizona State Sun Devils pulled off a big upset when they went to East Lansing and knocked off the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans over the weekend. However, the Pac-12 issued an apology yesterday as officials admitted they had erred in not flagging Arizona State for leaping on the final play of the game.
The Pac-12 acknowledged an error in officiating during the final play of the #ASU–#MichiganState game on Saturday on the FG. There should have been a foul called for leaping and an automatic first down. https://t.co/XYyyCkss6Q
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 16, 2019
The admission adds another layer to what was a wild end to this game. After three-and-a-half quarters of sleep inducing football, Michigan State finally scored to pull ahead of Arizona State 7-3. The Sun Devils rallied in the final three minutes, putting together their one good drive on the day to retake the lead at 10-7, leaving Michigan State 50 seconds to tie the game.
Brian Lewerke was able to lead the Spartans down the field, getting Michigan State to the Arizona State 24. Mark Dantonio called out the field goal team and hijinks ensued from there. Kicker Matt Coghlin initially knocked through a 42-yard attempt, but it was called back because Michigan State had too many men on the field. His attempt from 47 yards went very wide left, but a leaping penalty should have been called on Arizona State, and the Pac 12 acknowledged the mistake afterwards. That would have been a 15-yard penalty on the Sun Devils, giving Coghlin a chance to tie the game once more from 32 yards out.
Crazy finish to ASU-Mich St. Replay creates illegal sub foul for 12 men on Mich St. It’s a live ball foul in replay, so no clock reset or 10-sec runoff. Looked like ASU #15 should have been called for leaping on missed last attempt. Can’t move toward LOS & jump over players.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) September 14, 2019
Mistakes like these are never good, but they are a particularly bad look for the Pac-12. There was a four-month external review of Pac-12 referees this offseason after officials made some major errors last year, highlighted by two obvious targeting instances resulting in no penalties being called by the officials.
Porter Gustin missed the 1st half tonight due to targeting in the last game… and now he's doing this?? pic.twitter.com/RMym4s5rZA
— CFB Gif'er (@CFBgifer) September 22, 2018
The conference did resolve to become more transparent with it’s decision making process in August, and this is the first time we’ve seen the Pac-12 apologize for their mistake in the new system.
H/T The Athletic
