Utah Athletics Director Mark Harlan says officials stole 'Holy War' win from his Utes

Both visiting, undefeated BYU and unranked Utah were whistled for 10 penalties apiece late Saturday night as the two fierce foes resumed their 'Holy War' rivalry.

And both the Cougars and the Utes now are residents of the Big 12 Conference.

Veteran Utah Athletics Director Mark Harlan isn't singing the league's praises after watching his team fail to hold a late lead in BYU's 22-21, come-from-behind win sealed by Will Ferrin's 44-yard field goal with four ticks left on the clock.

The Cougars saw their game-winning field-goal drive sustained in its opening set of downs after the Big 12 officiating crew whistled Utah for a defensive holding, a play that converted a fourth-down stop into a first-down sequence. 

Harlan uncorked one of the most damning statements ever from an athletics director as it pertained to the in-game officiating, going so far as to question the crew's professionalism.

"This game was absolutely stolen from us," Harlan said from the postgame stage just prior to head coach Kyle Whittingham's remarks. "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."

Aside from the upheaval of conference realignment, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is likely to have the most significant controversy of his two-plus years atop the league.

In addition to Harlan's public vow to speak with him, Yormark also will be dealing with controversial officiating elements from the Colorado-Texas Tech game, if not additional contests from Saturday's slate.

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire already said he would turn in numerous missed calls while his counterpart Saturday, Colorado coach Deion Sanders, revealed in his postgame press conference that a Big 12 official in the game had made an inappropriate comment to him.