Minnesota Gophers' outrage over onside kick call leads to Big Ten officiating changes

The Minnesota Golden Gophers were screwed over. It's that simple. When the squad faced the Michigan Wolverines on the road, the Gophers pulled off the improbably: they led the No. 12 Wolverines and successfully completed an onside kick recovery.

Minnesota scored a resounding three touchdowns in a row to bring the game within three points during the fourth quarter and pulled off the onside kick. However, officials threw a flag and the call was reversed due to a player supposedly being offsides.

However, even to the naked eye of an observer sitting thousands of miles away on their couch, you could tell that nobody had crossed the line of scrimmage ahead of the kick taking place.

The call effectively ended the game then and there, and the Wolverines walked away with the victory. Obviously, football fans (especially those of the Gophers) caused an immediate wave of outrage across social media platforms in response to the blatantly incorrect call.

Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck submitted the call to the conference for review following his team's loss to the Wolverines.

"The coordinator [Bill Carollo] informed us the play was too tight to flag. We credit the Big Ten Conference for recognizing the need to make this change to ensure accurate calls in the future," Fleck shared with members of the media.

Following the blowout from both the Gophers and their fanbase, the Big Ten has made a few changes to prevent a controversy like this from happening in the future.

"Effective immediately, the Big Ten has been approved by the NCAA to implement a modified officiating mechanic that will allow the conference to change the manner in which it officiates onside kicks by positioning the Line Judge and Head Line-Judge on the kicking team's restraining line, thereby putting multiple officials in the best position to consistently make the correct judgment," said Paul Kennedy, the VP of sports communications for the Big Ten.

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