Iowa - Michigan 2005

Anon1757272537

Redshirt
Sep 7, 2025
2
1
3
Reminiscing this week after basking in the afterglow. Thought about the Michigan game in 2005 at Kinnick. I took the ACT that day as fast as I could to make it home to watch the second half. I remember it going to overtime and I remember there was a controversial call to basically get it to overtime. Years later I was poking around and found that the head referee that October day in 2005 was Dave Witovet, an Ann Arbor native.

For the life of me I can’t remember what the call was that really boned us, but I really remember being pissed about it. Asking all Hawkeye historians - is my memory off here?
 

83Hawk

All-Conference
Jan 1, 2023
1,737
3,903
113
I may be wrong, but Michigan interfered with an Iowa receiver but instead they called PI on Iowa. Blatantly wrong call.

There were others, but can’t think of them.
 

uihawk82

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2021
3,009
4,453
113
Reminiscing this week after basking in the afterglow. Thought about the Michigan game in 2005 at Kinnick. I took the ACT that day as fast as I could to make it home to watch the second half. I remember it going to overtime and I remember there was a controversial call to basically get it to overtime. Years later I was poking around and found that the head referee that October day in 2005 was Dave Witovet, an Ann Arbor native.

For the life of me I can’t remember what the call was that really boned us, but I really remember being pissed about it. Asking all Hawkeye historians - is my memory off here?
I remember a play in that game very well that was a blatant hold by a Mich wide receiver that led to a TD. Our tickets were 40 rows up in the SE grandstands at Kinnick. The play came right at us as Mich was going north to south. It was a wide swing pass sort of like the long receiver screens they throw now where the receiver is behind the LOS. Anyway, the pass was caught toward the sideline around the LOS and a wide receiver totally grabbed the Iowa cornerback and HELD him big time so the whole stadium of fans could see it. The ball carrier was right there so everyone was seeing the penalty except the refs. It was terrible blown call. Pissed us all off.

That play got Mich back in the game. But I will say one thing and that is the hawks got off to a 10 point lead or so and then we got conservative. should have kept the pedal to down and trounced them
 

Herky T Hawk

Senior
Feb 5, 2003
409
970
93
The refs were on the take in that game. It was clear as day to anyone watching the game. The Outback Bowl at the end of the season was worse overall in terms of number of bad calls that cost us the game. But one could potentially argue that crew was inept or at least in over their heads being a C-USA crew reffing a Big Ten vs SEC game.

The Iowa vs Michigan game had a Big Ten crew that was clearly biased and their handful of bad calls easily steered that game away from us. Cost us our home winning streak that went back to the 2002 ISU loss.
 
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