Utah AD Mark Harlan blasted for reaction to Utes’ ‘Holy War’ loss to BYU in Week 11 of college football

Heartland College Sports’ Pete Mundo found Utah AD Mark Harlan’s rant about the Utes’ 22-21 “Holy War” loss to BYU to be “ridiculous” given the way the Cougars were able to march down the field and score the football with ease after the controversial call Harlan was complaining about in the postgame presser.

“(Harlan’s rant was) one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in over a decade covering the Big 12 Conference,” Mundo wrote. “Now are Big 12 refs notorious for questionable calls in big spots? Sure. How different is it from the other conferences? I can’t speak to that, because I spent 95% of my time watching the Big 12. But to look back on this game and blame it exclusively on the officiating is completely ridiculous.”

Harlan claimed that Utah won the game but that the referees “absolutely” stole it from them.

“I’ve been an athletic director for 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game, someone else stole it from us. I’m very disappointed, I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by professionalism of the officiating crew tonight,” Harlan said at the November 9 press conference.

Harlan is almost certainly due to be hit with a fine after the incident. After a decade of dominance in the 2010s, Utah has now lost a second straight game to BYU. Worse yet, the Utes are the ones complaining about the Cougars getting favorable officiating from refs.

Definitively, these two teams have switched places. And it may be a long time before the U of U gets back to the top of the Beehive State.

Utes head football coach Kyle Whittingham likely closer to retiring from Utah after brutal Week 11 loss to BYUUtes head coach Kyle Whittingham didn’t complain nearly as much as Harlan after the loss. Whittingham left his criticism of the refs vague, perhaps knowing it’d cost him a pretty penny to be speaking like Harlan was.

“Things out there were ridiculous,” Whittingham said. “Things out there were ridiculous. That’s how I’ll leave it.”

Whittingham isn’t at any risk of being fired, but he doesn’t have to sit around and watch a once proud program descend into finger-pointing and the blame game. The Utes’ “Holy War” loss may be the spiritual awakening Whittingham needed to realize the sport has passed his team by.

Retirement may not be far off for Utah’s long-time head football coach.