Was it a catch or not? It’s become one of the most consistently asked questions throughout all levels of football in recent years. And as Big Ten rivals Illinois and Indiana opened their 2022 season against each other in a dramatic, down-to-the-wire game on Friday night, a catch controversy emerged.
Indiana defeated Illinois, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with only 23 seconds left. That gave the Hoosiers their first conference win since December of 2020. And while we can’t take anything away from Indiana, the Fighting Illini and their fans have a solid gripe.
Trailing 10-7 in the second quarter, Illinois drove into Indiana territory. Illini quarterback Tommy DeVito threw a pass to receiver Brian Hightower for what appeared to be a 19-yard touchdown strike. Only, it was ruled incomplete.
This was ruled as an incomplete pass in the Illinois-Indiana game
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 3, 2022
The play was reviewed but the call on the field was upheld.
As we’ll no doubt hear countless times throughout the football season, to overturn a play, you need clear and convincing evidence. In some cases, that can let officials off the hook for failing to overturn something. But in this case, clear and convincing evidence seemed to exist.
Catch 1 and Catch 2, in case you need it, @bigten pic.twitter.com/C2T0BP1K73
— Armchair Illinois (@ArmchairIllini) September 3, 2022
Naturally, people watching the game were miffed about the apparently missed call.
Hightower caught that 3 times for Illinois
— Bill Bender (@BillBender92) September 3, 2022
Kinda stunned Hightower isn't credited with that TD catch for Illinois. Looked like on replay, he made an amazing play.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 3, 2022
That’s a catch man. Illinois got hosed tonight.
— KCamp (@kcampdesign) September 3, 2022
Illinois got robbed. That was a Hightower TD.
— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) September 3, 2022
That’s 100% a touchdown catch by Illinois
— Steve Helwick (@s_helwick) September 3, 2022
Adding to the controversy, the call loomed large at the end of the game.
Illinois ended up kicking a field goal on the drive to tie the game at 10-10. Indiana answered with a pair of field goals to go up 16-10 at halftime. The Fighting Illini took the lead early in the third quarter on a touchdown pass from DeVito to Hightower and added a field goal early in the fourth to go up 20-16. But the Hoosiers retook the lead on a 75-yard drive, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run from Shaun Shivers in the game’s final minute and held on for the 23-20 win.
So, did the missed call cost Illinois the win? There was way too much time left in the game to say that everything subsequent would have played out the same way had Hightower been credited with a touchdown. But in the moment, the lost touchdown cost the Fighting Illini a net of four points. Given that they lost by three points, we can’t be dismissive of the four that they should have gotten.
