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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
SALT LAKE CITY — Much of the BYU football team was still on the field celebrating a remarkable 22-21 win against rival Utah late Saturday night when Utes athletics director Mark Harlan made a surprise appearance at the postgame news conference.
In a fiery address, Harlan disparaged the officiating crew and challenged the validity of his school’s loss.
“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12; but tonight, I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed.
“I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
Jake Retzlaff engineered two fourth-quarter scoring drives, and Will Ferrin kicked a 44-yard field with four seconds remaining to keep No. 9 BYU’s unbeaten season alive.
The Cougars’ final drive was extended on 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 overall for 219 yards, then passed for 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards to get BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in position for Ferrin’s kick.
“Whatever decision the refs make, I don’t think they’re trying to get it wrong, so that’s just part of the game,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “The refs are part of the game. We were able to capitalize on that.”
The Cougars remain the final undefeated team in the Big 12 and in prime position for a bid in the conference championship game.
Utah (4-5, 1-5 Big 12) had won nine in a row in the series before dropping the 2021 game 26-17 and now this one.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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