“The penalty from Mars” earned Jim Harbaugh a “mea culpa” from the Big Ten this week.
Harbaugh, speaking on 97.1 The Ticket this week, said a holding call on senior running back Karan Higdon in the fourth quarter — one that negated a huge gain and could have been the difference in a tight game had Michigan not come back — was one of the worst he'd ever seen.
Few would disagree.
Higdon was tackled on the read-option play and junior quarterback Shea Patterson kept the ball. The official threw the flag after Patterson was a good 10 yards down the field.
“They said, ‘Sorry, we missed it?’” Harbaugh was asked.
“Yup,” the coach answered.
And that was it.
“I’d say it was the worst call in the history of college football — since 1869,” Harbaugh said on “I’d put it right up there with it. We faked it to Karan on a zone-read, Shea pulled it and ran for [20] yards, and their linebacker tackled Karan Higdon and then threw him down to the ground. It was a heck of a fake by Karan.”
Harbaugh had been just as harsh after the game .
“I asked for it specifically, just so they didn’t come back later and say it was some other player,” Harbaugh said then. “They called it on 22, on Karan. I asked the ref, ask the side judge so there wasn’t some different explanation days from now. He came back and said it was on the running back holding the linebacker.
“The whole stadium saw that it was the linebacker tackled our running back. It was a zone read. Faked it to the running back, their linebacker tackled him and Shea ran for 28 yards. Then they tacked on 10 yards for holding us. Phantom call.”
Higdon said he had no explanation for it. It was one of 11 penalties for 100 yards against the Wolverines, who have now been penalized 46 times on the year for 421 yards, which ranks 122nd in the nation in terms of discipline.
It's been a trend over the last several years, and one that's tough to figure out, especially when it comes to holding penalties against what's been a dominant Michigan defensive line.
Patterson Impressing, Run Game A Work In Progress
• Patterson had been outstanding through five games and done everything asked of him, Harbaugh said.
"That and more, really," he said. “I’ve been really happy with Shea. I think he’s ascending and improving every single week.
"The thing that stood out this week the most … [fifth-year senior defensive end] Chase [Winovich] was a real catalyst on defense this past week, his 11 tackles and tackles for loss and his sack, and his energy that he was bringing.
"Shea was that on offense. He was that catalyst on offense. Not only him making the plays or the throws, but also getting out of trouble, extending drives with his runs. You really felt him out there. You really felt his leadership, his energy and all the guys were feeding off it as well."
They have been running plenty of spread with him, Harbaugh said when questioned.
"We ran quite a few spread plays in the ballgame," he explained. "You saw Shea running the zone read. We’re operating out of multiple spread formations throughout the ball game in shotgun, throwing and running the ball out of what’s called the spread offense."
The coach added that there's a goal they have for each game, and they've met it twice — exceeding 200 rushing yards. He's heard some critics of his system, but he chooses to ignore them.
"That’s our goal," he noted. "If we can get to 200 yards rushing a game and 200 yards passing a game, that’s the goal that we strive for. Other than that … I heard a great line the other day. [Former Michigan player] Bruce Elliott was telling me that one of his dad’s favorite quotes was, 'Every person in the world knows how to do three things: Start a fire, pack a trunk and coach football.'"
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