Utah AD Mark Harlan said late Saturday night he planned to talk to Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark following his team's loss to No. 9 BYU, and Harlan left that conversation $40,000 lighter.
The Big 12 announced Sunday it has fined Harlan that amount and issued a public reprimand after he said "someone else" "stole" a win from the Utes.
"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."
A message from Utah AD Mark Harlan: pic.twitter.com/thI9hNRdbY
— Steve Bartle (@BartleKSLsports) November 10, 2024
Harlan and Utah were upset after a sack of BYU quarterback Brett Retzlaff on 4th-and-10 from the Cougars' 9-yard line with 1:30 remaining was negated by a defensive holding penalty. Trailing 21-19, BYU then positioned itself to kick a game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired, clinching the undefeated Cougars their first Holy War win at Rice-Eccles Stadium since 2006.
The loss dropped Utah to 4-5 on the season, with all five losses coming in their last five games. Four of those five losses have been by one score.
As bears mentioning any time someone blames the ref for a loss, the refs did not allow BYU to move 55 yards in 90 seconds, nor did they force Utah to be shut out after taking a 21-10 halftime lead.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
Update >> Harlan has issued a statement accepting the consequences of his decision.
