Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Michigan

4. Refs can’t make that big of a difference

The Illinois game against Purdue is still fresh in my mind. We only lost by seven points to the Boilermakers despite there being 12 penalties for 121 yards. That was nearly double that of Purdue.

On Saturday, Illinois was definitely better when it came to penalties. We only had four penalties for 40 yards against Michigan. The Wolverines were right there with the Illini with four penalties for 25 yards. If you just look at the box score, you wouldn’t know anything egregious happened.

Midway through the game, Illinois had an open wide receiver down the sidelines. Tommy DeVito put it on the wide receiver, but a Michigan defensive back held the Illini wide receiver’s arm and we couldn’t pull the ball in. This was obviously pass interference, but it was not called.

Let’s fast-forward to the final drive of the game. Michigan was down 17-16 with time ticking off the clock. Illinois was able to get the Wolverines to fourth down with three yards to go. This game could have been over.

Michigan called a pass play to the left. A Michigan wide receiver started blocking as soon as the ball was snapped. He blocked his defender into another Illinois defensive back. This allowed Michigan’s running back to be wide open for an eight-yard gain. The refs have to call offensive pass interference there.

On the very next play, Illinois was called for a back-breaking 15-yard pass interference that wasn’t pass interference. It became clear what was happening at that point. It is sad that is the way the game had to end. It wasn’t a great play by Michigan, which would have been painful but understandable. No, it wasn’t that. It was the refs finishing us off. That doesn’t sit right with me.