Sherrone Moore and Michigan Wolverines survive in Michigan State rivalry win thanks to surprising source of help
The Michigan Wolverines played well, but the referees certainly made sure they defeated the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday
The Michigan Wolverines won yet another game as they move to 6-2 heading into the final stretch of the 2025 college football regular season. Michigan took down Michigan State 31-20 in what was a decisive rivalry win, but not without a fair share of controversy.
Tempers run high and fingers get pointed in any big rivalry game, but Michigan fans might legitimately want to say thank you to the referees after the Wolverines found themselves as the beneficiaries of several fortunate calls in Saturday’s win over Sparty.
Michigan Wolverines get some help from referees in rivalry win over Michigan State
First off, Michigan deserved to win the game on Saturday. Dropping 276 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground against anyone generally does the trick. However, it did look rather rough for officials when Michigan constantly found themselves surviving thanks to unbelievable penalties and non-penalties in their favor.
First, it was the fumble recovery on the very first drive of the game for Michigan State. Spartans QB Aidan Chiles clearly lost the football, but Michigan’s Jimmy Rolder definitely didn’t look like he got a clean recovery of the football before rolling out of bounds.
Then it was a few no-calls on blatant pass interference penalties from Michigan where defenders were pulling, yanking, and hitting far too early and often in coverage. And finally, as Spartans fans have been yelling non-stop, the late offsides penalty that overturned a sack and fumble recovery in favor of Michigan State, basically gifting Michigan the game by itself (as you can see in the post below).
Michigan State’s defender did look like he was jumping across the line at first glance, but upon further review it became clear that the Spartans defender did indeed not cross the line before the snap. He just timed things incredibly well. So, instead of the fumble recovery counting, and Michigan State taking over with the ball, Michigan was gifted a penalty they didn’t deserve and scored a touchdown just a few plays later.
When you combine the fumble recovery by Jimmy Rolder, the non-PI calls in favor of Michigan’s defense, and the offsides-that-wasn’t, it was obvious (whether intentional or not) that the Wolverines got a ton of help from the referees on Saturday. Yes, Michigan controlled the ground game with both Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall easily clearing 100 rushing yards, but Michigan needs to tighten things up and not make as many silly mistakes here soon. Otherwise, their lack of discipline is going to cost them against a competent officiating crew.
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