The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/614487
but it will most likely be the coach's least talented — just four players to- tal made the All-Big Ten first and sec- ond teams — and it remained in the hunt for a league title on the last day of the regular season despite some terrible breaks. Injuries depleted the defensive line, once a team strength, and a few calls that could have gone their way — well, didn't. Which takes us to … REPLAY IS A FAILURE Michigan's chances to beat the Spartans took a hit when senior linebacker Joe Bolden was ejected in the first half for perhaps the worst targeting call ever. An MSU lineman pushed Bolden on top of quarterback Connor Cook and his facemask hit Cook's on the way down. Somehow, replay officials upheld the bogus call. Bolden was clearly still miffed about it during the first Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl press confer- ence when the contest was brought up, responding that he "wasn't al- lowed" to play half the game. He was probably even more dis- gusted watching the way targeting was (or wasn't) called the remainder of the year. Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock was on the receiving end of vicious, seemingly obvious target- ing on three occasions with no call. In the Big Ten title game, Iowa tight end George Kittle took a wicked helmet- to-helmet hit from MSU linebacker Riley Bullough, dropped the ball and watched it get intercepted in the end zone. Unbelievably, the same officiating crew that did the Michigan-Michigan State game was on the field for the Big Ten title game, and it failed again. This one never even made it to the replay booth because they blew the call on the field. Replay was supposed to help elimi- nate questionable calls, but in reality, the process is still subjective. It all depends on what the guy in the booth sees — and too often it's not what the rest of America sees on television. In Iowa's case, the Hawkeyes should have had first-and-goal from the 1-yard line and a chance to go up 13-3 in a game in which points came at a premium in a 16-13 MSU win. The Spartans have a chance to prove they belong in the four-team field the way Ohio State did last year by winning it all. They took advan- tage of the breaks and earned it. But there's too much subjectivity to limit the playoff field to four. Eight is the right number, giving teams a chance to overcome some of the bad luck/calls that might have prevented them from being in a field of four. Watching the rivals duke it out will be added fuel for Michigan to get there, and there will be years in the not too distant future that the Wolver- ines will be in OSU's shoes this year — on the outside looking in when they were good enough to win it all. Book it. ❏ Chris Balas has been with The Wolverine since 1997, working part time for five years before joining the staff full time in 2002. Contact him at cbalas@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter at Balas_Wolverine.