AP voter Tom Murphy was the only person to rank Michigan ahead of Ohio State in this week’s poll even though Murphy already had Ohio State ranked ahead of Michigan last week and the Buckeyes just beat the Wolverines in a double-overtime thriller on Saturday.
Murphy, who covers the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, explained his ballot, saying he thought the refs made a bad call in the second overtime when Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett ran for a first down on 4th-and-1 trailing by a field goal. On review, the refs determined the play stood as called.
And you can tell those refs that Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette thinks they are idiots.
“As that was the game-decided play, I appointed myself as the replay official and deemed Michigan the winner,” Murphy said in his explanation. “Now, if only the College Football Playoff selection committee would do the same.”
Tom Murphy, the only AP Voter to rank Michigan ahead of Ohio State after the OSU win, explains his ballot in which he appoints himself ref. pic.twitter.com/EpuJcRahPP
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 28, 2016
Here’s the crucial play Murphy referenced.
https://twitter.com/SBNationCFB/status/802619767924334592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
There is one fairly reasonable way you could go about ranking Michigan ahead of Ohio State, and that would be because the Wolverines were only one spot behind the Buckeyes and then outplayed them for most of the game on the road before losing on a gutsy call in double overtime. If Michigan played this game at home or even on a neutral site, you could make a good argument they win.
That’s not the argument Murphy made, so the man came away looking like a dingus. It doesn’t help that he also commented how Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh pinning the loss on the refs “isn’t a good look,” even though he just did the same exact thing.
[reddit]
