On Saturday, Michigan stormed back from 17 down on the road to defeat the Northwestern Wildcats.
During the fourth quarter, with the Wolverines trailing 17-13, quarterback Shea Patterson broke off a 20-yard run that was brought back because of one of the worst holding calls you will ever see. On the play, Michigan running back Karan Higdon was called for holding after he was tackled by a Northwestern defender who thought Higdon had the ball.
In case you missed it…
Karan Higdon was somehow called for holding on this play. He got tackled. pic.twitter.com/oeP7FkJlw6
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) September 29, 2018
Fox Sports announcer Joe Klatt described the play as “the holding call from Mars” and he was on the money with that analysis.
Following the game, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about the holding penalty and at first, he tried to direct all questions regarding the play to UM athletic director, Warde Manuel. Harbaugh would then go into a bit of detail, eventually calling it a “phantom call.”
From Detroit Free Press:
“(Athletic director) Warde Manuel told me to let him handle that, so no comment on that.”
“Yeah, I asked for it specifically just to make sure they didn’t come back later and say it was some other player,” Harbaugh said. “They called it on 22, they called it on Karan, so I asked the referee, ‘go ask the side judge who he called it on,’ so there wasn’t some different explanation days from now.
“So he came back and said it was on the running back holding the linebacker. The whole stadium saw that the linebacker tackled our running back. It was a zone read. Faked it to the running back, their linebacker tackled him. Phantom call.”
On Wednesday, Harbaugh joined the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 the ticket. When asked about the Higdon call, Harbaugh was brutally honest about how bad he thought the call was saying it was the “worst call in college football history dating back to 1869.”
Jim Harbaugh on @971theticketxyt says Karan Higdon's holding call is the worst call in college football history. Big Ten admitted the call was incorrect.
— Von Lozon (@von_lozon) October 3, 2018
He said those words and then "dating back to 1869," which is when NCAA football began.
— Von Lozon (@von_lozon) October 3, 2018
It is safe to say that Harbaugh is a bit fed up with the officiating.
