ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Not that it changes anything, but Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said the Big Ten Conference has admitted to "mistakes" in officiating calls that went against the Wolverines during their loss at Michigan State on Oct. 30.
Michigan State won, 37-33, and, as teams often do after a game, Michigan sent the Big Ten copies of officiating calls that the staff believed were incorrect.
"You don't make excuses, but the guys deserved better," Harbaugh said last week during a radio show.
Michigan is 8-1, 5-1 in the Big Ten and is preparing to play at Penn State on Saturday.
But during his Monday news conference, he was asked if the Big Ten had responded to the calls that he and his staff called into question from the Michigan State game.
"Yeah, as we all expected, all saw, mistakes were made," Harbaugh said Monday. "That was the response — they made a mistake."
Harbaugh was asked specifically about the reversal of the call on a fumble by Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne, which was called on the field as a recovery by Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson for a touchdown.
"Yeah, and others," Harbaugh said.
He said he could not be clearer than that.
After replay, that was overturned and Thorne was ruled down before losing control of the ball. Harbaugh had previously spoken about a missed pass interference on the Wolverines' second-to-last possession.
As he was about to respond to another question Monday , Harbaugh made one final point about officiating.
"The film doesn't lie, you know," he said.
The Detroit News reached out to the Big Ten twice regarding the officiating in the Michigan-Michigan State game but did not get a response. Bill Carollo, the Big Ten head of officials, is made available to the media once a year at Big Ten media days in July. The Big Ten typically does not send statements regarding officiating unless a program is being fined or a player is being suspended.
Typically, the conference does respond to programs when complaints are filed. For instance, Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said on a radio show in September he had heard back from Big Ten officiating supervisors regarding complaints he made from his team's game against Ohio State and one response supported his issue with the call in question.
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