There are times when teams lose and will blame officiating for the loss, and they don’t really have a point. After all, there are many things that go into any loss. But there are other times when you can absolutely, positively point to execrable officiating as the reason, and you just have to wonder what on earth the zebras are watching out there, because it certainly isn’t the game.
In their 34-31 Friday “loss” to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Purdue Boilermakers walked off the field with just such a feeling. With 58 seconds left in the game, quarterback Jack Plummer absolutely hit tight end Payne Durham for a 19-yard touchdown on a corner route.
Problem was, the refs didn’t see it that way. For whatever reason, flags flew, Durham was penalized for offensive pass interference, and the touchdown was taken off the board. Plummer threw an interception on the next play, and the game was effectively over.
Purdue TE Payne Durham scores the go ahead TD here with under a minute left, but refs flag him for OPI, Purdue then ends up throwing an INT and Minnesota wins the game pic.twitter.com/Fc7RLL1iBh
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) November 21, 2020
Gil Brandt, the legendary NFL executive who pretty much invented modern scouting, put it quite bluntly, and was one of many on Twitter to do so.
One if the worst call I've ever seen.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) November 21, 2020
Bonus points to the Purdue social media people. Sadly, nobody could stop the count.
ⓘ This claim is disputed. https://t.co/dLW9OoGvCb
— Purdue Athletics (@PurdueSports) November 21, 2020
“Refs made a call. We still had to finish the game,” said Minnesota defensive back Phillip Howard, who was handfighting with Durham on the play.
That’s about all you can say when you benefit from one of the worst calls… like, ever.
“You know what I think,” Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm said after the game. “I can’t really comment on it. It’s part of the game and we’ve got to move forward, but yes, I didn’t like it at all.
“I wish I could comment what I really think. We send calls in [to the Big Ten], and sometimes they agree with us, sometimes they don’t. I don’t have the replay and can see it. I just know there was a touchdown [Minnesota] caught earlier in the game, about the same area on the slot receiver, he gave a little nudge and they didn’t call that.
“I’ll just stop there. A big score at the end and it gets called back. I guess we had a penalty.”
Purdue was flagged for offensive pass interference on a potential game-winning touchdown and threw an interception on the next play. Minnesota won 34-31.
HC Jeff Brohm, like those who took the Boilermakers at -2 on @BetMGM, was not happy with the call.pic.twitter.com/CmpQxFjRjv
— BroBible (@BroBible) November 21, 2020
Yeah… we guess they had a penalty, but we’re still looking for any actual evidence of it.
