Referees' Controversial Minnesota-Michigan Flag Prompts Call to 'Investigate Everyone'

The headline at Barstool Sports probably captured the mood among most who witnessed the ending of Michigan's very, very lucky win over Minnesota, capped by a successful Gophers onside kick that was nullfied by a questionable offsides call.

Without irony, the site's headline read : "The Refs From The Michigan/Minnesota Game Need To Be Investigated IMMEDIATELY."

A review of the situation at the end of the Gophers' upset attempt at the Big House shows why. Minnesota had trailed, 24-3, late in the third quarter when an interception by Wolverines quarterback Alex Orji sparked a 14-play touchdown drive that cut the score to 24-10.

That breathed life into Minnesota, which got a long punt return to set up a touchdown and another long drive to pull to 27-24 with less than two minutes to go.

Kicker Dragan Kesich dinked an onside kick, recovered by the Gophers inside the Michigan 40-yard line, but the play was called back when it was ruled that Matt Kingsbury of Minnesota was offsides.

Thanks to that call, the Gophers never got their chance to complete the comeback. The problem was that, other than the ref who made the offside call, no one else watching thought there was an offsides to be called.

Fox Sports' refereeing expert, Mike Pereira, watched the play and said, "I don't think he's offside. ... I don't think he's breaking the plane."

The Reddit CFB account posted, "THEY WIPED OFF MINNESOTA'S ONSIDE KICK FRAUDULENTLY. CORRUPTION!!!"

And longtime NFL writer Albert Breer of SI.com probably summed it up best: "Wow Minnesota got screwed."

The win, however controversial, will move the No. 12 Wolverines to 4-1 on the season, and Minnesota drops to 2-3.