Kyle Whittingham was livid with the officials after his Utes lost to Cal 28-23 on Saturday in Berkeley.
The major shock was that Cal’s typically weak defense stood tough on seven straight plays from inside their 10 to keep the Utes out of the end zone and win the game. The final play was a 3rd-and-goal handoff at the 1 that Cal stuffed Utah on to seal the victory as time expired.
So why was Whittingham so upset? Two plays earlier, Utah had the ball 1st-and-goal at the 2 after a pass interference call. They ran the ball and gained a yard. After that play, the referees charged Utah with their final timeout of the game. Whittingham did not want a timeout, though.
Pac-12 Network says Kyle Whittingham was asking the refs about the clock but they thought he wanted a timeout. Not great.
— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) October 2, 2016
Refs thought he called timeout 2 plays earlier. Cost Utah a chance to run the ball with 2 timeouts after the PI call. https://t.co/dUly3IGvxQ
— KYLE F GUNTHER (@GuntherKFAN) October 2, 2016
Being charged with a timeout on that play prevented Utah from running the ball another time because they were out of timeouts, therefore limiting their play-calling choices. That’s why Whittingham was pointing at the officials:
Rather than be upset with the refs, Whittingham should be ticked that his offense couldn’t punch it into the end zone on seven tries from inside the 10 against Cal’s terrible defense. That was the real problem.
