Toledo A.D. Wants Football Loss to Syracuse Overturned

A day after the Big East acknowledged its officials erred during the fourth quarter of the University of Toledo’s 33-30 overtime loss at Syracuse, athletic director Mike O’Brien fired back Sunday.

During an impromptu news conference at Larimer Athletic Complex, O’Brien announced that he has petitioned for the final result to be vacated and for Toledo be named the winner of the game.

“I requested of our Mid-American Conference commissioner, Jon Steinbrecher, that he contact the Big East Conference relative to [Saturday’s] UT-Syracuse game and ask that the win be vacated and awarded to the University of Toledo,” O’Brien said.

Neither the MAC nor Big East had any immediate reaction to O’Brien’s appeal, and O’Brien said Sunday afternoon that he had not received a reply from officials from either conference.

“I realize that this is most likely unprecedented and can be looked upon in a variety of ways,” O’Brien said. “Whether it be sour grapes, that athletic director is a sore loser, or praised, I think it’s important we show our football team that we truly support them, that we show our football coach and his staff we’re here for them and support them and tell our fan base that it wasn’t a situation where the University of Toledo just lays down.”

With 2:07 remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, Syracuse kicker Ross Krautman appeared to miss an extra-point attempt that put the Orange ahead 30-27, but officials on the field ruled that the kick went through the uprights. The ensuing review from replay official Buddy Ward confirmed the ruling on the field.

The extra point proved to be crucial in the Orange’s victory because Toledo drove down the field on its next possession and Ryan Casano booted a 20-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime tied at 30.

UT ended up losing in the extra session after throwing an interception on its first possession, and Krautman kicked the game-winning field goal.

Had Krautman’s earlier extra-point attempt, which appeared to curl just in front of the left upright, been ruled as a miss, then Casano’s kick would have given the Rockets a one-point victory.

Big East Conference coordinator of football officiating Terry McAulay issued a statement, with regard to the play in question, Saturday night admitting that the officials on the field and the replay official erred in ruling the extra-point attempt good.

“The game of football has numerous human errors throughout a game,” UT coach Tim Beckman said. “The players, coaches, and officials are all apart of these. That’s football. But when you add technology to a call and it is not used properly, it is injustice. The use of instant replay is there to make a call right.”

Beckman added that he felt his team has been cheated by instant replay twice in the last five games, dating back to last year’s 34-32 loss to Florida International in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

During the final drive before his team’s game-winning field goal, FIU receiver T.Y. Hilton appeared to step out of bounds before the first-down marker on a hook-and-lateral play on fourth-and-17. Officials on the field, however, gave him a favorable spot, and the subsequent review by the replay official confirmed the call on the field.

Because there was never any admission of wrongdoing in that game, O’Brien said there hasn’t been any consideration to appeal to have that contest vacated as well.

O’Brien added that the events from Saturday at Syracuse and the 27-22 loss at Ohio State on Sept. 10, during which the Rockets were penalized 12 more times than the Buckeyes, has him reconsidering his philosophy in regard to scheduling.

“You’ve better be prepared to play your A-plus game when you play in certain venues,” O’Brien told The Blade after Sunday’s news conference. “There’s the possibility I would look at scheduling more non-BCS teams in the future.”

As for if he expects a favorable outcome to his appeal, O’Brien was uncertain.

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I know it’ll have to go through a few channels, but we’ll see what happens.”

There is precedent for the outcome of a game being changed due to an error by officials.

During a game between Cornell and Dartmouth in 1940, officials inadvertently gave Cornell a fifth down while it was trying to score from inside Dartmouth’s 10-yard line with less than a minute to play.

A touchdown pass on the fifth down in the waning seconds gave Cornell a 7-3 victory, but after film emerged showing the official’s mistake, Cornell players, coaches, and administrators offered to forfeit the game to Dartmouth, which accepted the offer.