Utah AD rips officials at BYU rallies – game ‘stolen from us’

SALT LAKE CITY — Much of the BYU football team was still on the field celebrating a remarkable 22-21 win over rival Utah late Saturday night when Utes athletics director Mark Harlan made a surprise appearance at the postgame news conference.

In a fiery speech, Harlan disparaged the officiating team and questioned the validity of his school’s loss.

“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited to be in the Big 12, but tonight I’m not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed.”

“I will speak to the commissioner. That wasn’t fair to our team. I am disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating team tonight.”

Jake Retzlaff had two scoring drives in the fourth quarter and Will Ferrin hit a 44-yard field with four seconds left to keep No. 9 BYU’s undefeated season alive.

The Cougars’ final drive was extended by a defensive holding penalty on fourth down when the largest crowd in Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium history (54,383) thought the game was over.

Retzlaff, who was 15 of 33 for 219 total yards, then passed to Chase Roberts for 30 yards and Darius Lassiter for 12 yards before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards to put BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in the game Position for Ferrin’s kick.

“Whatever decision the referees make, I don’t think they’re trying to do anything wrong, so that’s just part of the game,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “The referees are part of the game. We were able to capitalize on that.”

The Cougars remain the last undefeated team in the Big 12 and have the best chance of reaching the conference championship game.

Utah (4-5, 1-5 Big 12) had won nine straight in the series before losing the 2021 game 26-17 and now this game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.