The No. 12 Eastern Washington Eagles lost 28-21 to the Idaho Vandals at the Kibbie Dome on Saturday night in Moscow, Idaho.
But there’s one glaring problem: The Eagles had three points absolutely stolen from via one of the worst officiating mistakes you’ll ever see.
Here’s the video and play-by-play from the broadcast, and check out the official standing under the left upright who was clearly not paying attention during the kick.
Uhhh Eastern Washington’s kicker just kicked a 22-yard field goal and something happened and the ball hit the scoreboard after going through the uprights and the refs got confused and just looked around and called it no good. Holy shit this is worse than the 5th down. pic.twitter.com/apT5r9cJlD
— Graham Coffey (@DawgOutWest) February 28, 2021
I’m sure most refs go through the motions on field goal attempts, as it’s probably the easiest call they’ll make all day. Either the ball is inside the post, or it isn’t. But in this case being out of position and not watching the play ended up having a massive impact.
The odd angles of the legendary Kibbie Dome saw the ball bounce back into the field of play, and the official assumed it was off the upright. It actually came back off the wall behind the goal posts. Add onto that there was no camera angle that saw the ball go through the uprights, so it couldn’t be overturned on replay.
Oh: And the score was tied at 21 with 11:01 left in the fourth quarter when this happened. It looks like the back judge was Ben Cheffers according to the live stats page. He might be sitting out a few plays from Big Sky Conference play after this one.
Idaho’s game winning drive was an eight-play, 68-yard march that ended with a touchdown with 54 seconds remaining. You’d have to think the Eagles would be defending the field a bit differently with a lead via three additional points in their pocket.
It’s an absolutely brutal way to lose for EWU, and one that was totally preventable. Idaho closed as a five-point underdog at DraftKings Sportsbook.