Saturday’s version of the “Holy Struggle” rivalry between Utah and BYU ended with some slight controversy, one thing the previous athletic director took main difficulty with publicly.
Mark Harlan spoke at a postgame information convention and ripped into the officers for a holding penalty on a play that may’ve been a fourth down sack and sure ended the sport with Utah up 21-19.
As an alternative, the No. 9 Cougars put collectively an epic 1:29 drive down the sphere for the game-winning subject purpose to remain undefeated on the 12 months.
“This sport was completely stolen from us,” Harlan stated. “We gained this sport, another person stole it from us.”
He went on to say he was “disgusted with” the Massive 12 officers’ “professionalism,” prompting a scathing response from the convention on Sunday.
“[Harlan’s] feedback irresponsibly challenged the professionalism of our officers and the integrity of the Massive 12 Convention,” commissioner Brett Yormark stated partially in a statement. “There’s a proper manner and a flawed approach to voice issues. Sadly, Mark selected the flawed manner.”
The official reprimand was adopted by a stiff $40,000 positive charged to Harlan who stated he could be talking with Yormark.
Harlan’s feedback look like the boiling over of frustration stemming from Utah’s disappointing season thus far. The Utes (4-5) had been picked to win the Massive 12 as a part of their inaugural 12 months within the preseason media ballot.
Since then, it is gone 1-5 in convention play and has began three completely different quarterbacks.
The Massive 12 has a historical past of punishing its members to curb criticism, dropping a complete of $75,000 in fines since 2014 (not together with Harlan), per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
