Down 10-0 at halftime, it looked like Michigan State was in for yet another letdown of a performance at Minnesota, but the Gophers ripped the Spartans’ hearts out in overtime, 23-20.
The win drops Michigan State to 3-6 on the season and it also makes Minnesota bowl eligible.
But the loss wasn’t solely on Michigan State on Saturday, although Brian Lindgren did his best to make sure the Spartans squandered a couple of scoring opportunities. Jonathan Smith showed some emotion, the offense was solid, and the defense showed up in the second half to make it a game again, with the Spartans taking a 17-10 lead with just over a minute left.
Minnesota marched down the field and tied it up with about 29 seconds left, however, and the Spartans couldn’t get into field goal position before the end of regulation.
Then, in overtime, Michigan State was absolutely robbed by the refs.
Normally, I wouldn’t write an entire article about poor officiating, but the fact that Michigan State lost this game in overtime can be partially attributed to bad refs.
Michigan State began overtime with the ball, but Minnesota held the Spartans to three points thanks to a massive gaffe by the refs. They called pass interference on Minnesota on a clear grab of Rod Bullard’s jersey, but right as the teams were about to line up for a play inside the 10-yard-line, the flag was picked up and the call was overturned.
The call was questionable for sure, but it was called on the field and the ball was even moved to account for the penalty before the refs overturned it.
Then, they called a pass interference on Michigan State when Minnesota had possession, giving the Gophers the ball inside the five with an easy chance to win.
And finally, on third and goal, Drake Lindsey rolled out for a quarterback keeper and looked to score the winning touchdown, but the replay showed his foot out of bounds as the inch-yard-line and it was quickly reviewed — and somehow upheld. Even the announcers on the Big Ten Network said it should’ve been marked short along with the rules analyst.
What we just witnessed in Minneapolis was nothing short of robbery that handed Minnesota a win in overtime on 2-3 horrendous calls. If I’m Jonathan Smith, I’m on the phone with the Big Ten on the way home.