ESPN commentator Mike Tirico called the game the most poorly officiated he had seen in some time, and he was right.

The game started poorly with the officials missing an obvious fumble that would have given Michigan the ball in Nebraska territory. Instead, Nebraska scored on that drive. Meanwhile, the replay official whose job it is to stop play and review close calls did nothing. And thus began a night of passive, timid and indecisive officiating that cost Michigan the game.

Later that half Michigan coach Lloyd Carr was forced to use a timeout to prompt the officials to review a Nebraska touchdown that was ultimately ruled an incompletion. In the second half, the tables were turned and Nebraska had to call a timeout to prompt the officials to review an interception in the endzone in which the official was standing just feet away from the Nebraska defender and somehow couldn't see that his foot was 18 inches in bounds. It was only after Nebraska called a timeout and the crowd howled at the video replay that the replay official decided to put down his hot dog and review a play.

But the most egregious officiating came at the end of the game. With Michigan up and with the ball, Michigan's quarterback threw what looked to be an incompletion. The play was ruled a fumble. This was the very type of critical, very close play that video replay was designed for. Again, the replay official stood there, passive and unwilling to make a call until Lloyd Carr again had to blow a Michigan timeout. Only after throwing a tirade did the official review the play.

Now I'm no Norman Einstein as some would say, but the replay clearly showed the Nebraska defender pulling back on the quarterback's arm, the arm moving forward and the ball moving forward about seven yards. The replay official took all of 20 seconds to confirm the ruling on the field, fumble. Now how in the name of physics does a ball travel forward seven yards on its own?

That play gave Nebraska the ball deep in Michigan territory and they got the go ahead touchdown a couple of plays later.

All of this ineptness could only be outdone by one of the most bizarre plays I've ever seen in college football...

With no timeouts (see above), Michigan had only seconds to go about 80 yards. They dumped the ball to a receiver and began lateralling a la Cal-Stanford. On one critical play, the ball was tossed across the field and dropped. Confused, the Nebraska sideline acted as if this was an incompletion and stormed the field. The play, however, was still live. Where were the refs? Who knows, we didn't hear from them again the rest of this game. What ensued was a surreal scene as a Michigan player ran through dozens of bystanders who had come on to the field, making his way down to the Nebraska 15 yard line. A couple of alert Nebraska players knocked him out of bounds on what otherwise would have been the winning touchdown.

There should have been a sideline infraction called on both teams. Nebraska stormed the field, but Michigan players also wandered out thinking the game was over. So there should have been offsetting penalties called, replay the down. However, despite there being some 200 people on the field during the play rather than 22, not one official threw a flag.

It's a shame games like this have to happen where an officiating crew is so inept, so completely unqualified it was virtually pointless for the teams to show up.