Lytle: Refs mar CSU football’s Rocky Mountain Showdown loss

DENVER — Mike Bobo wouldn’t take the bait.

The players on the CSU football team tried to shrug off the striped elephant in the room, too.

There’s no doubt, however, that what could have been an epic Rocky Mountain Showdown was altered by confounding refereeing decisions.

Decisions that drew the ire of Colorado State University fans, national football pundits and an odd dose of sympathy from University of Colorado fans as the Buffs won 17-3 in front of 73,932 fans at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Four specific calls played a huge role in the game. All four went against CSU.

“We don’t make excuses and we don’t let other people make them for us,” a diplomatic Bobo said postgame. “We didn’t win the ballgame. We didn’t do what we came here to do.”

First, a recap. In the first half, a deep ball from Nick Stevens to Bisi Johnson that would have put CSU deep in CU’s red zone was wiped out by an offensive pass interference where it appeared the CU defender slipped. The Rams didn’t score on that drive and CU opened the scoring on its ensuing drive.

The Buffs took over from there, scoring 17 straight points and taking a 17-3 lead into halftime.

Live Recap:CU holds off CSU in strange Rocky Mountain Showdown

On CSU’s first third-quarter drive, Stevens hit Detrich Clark for a would-be back-shoulder touchdown pass. A flag flew for offensive pass interference. A couple plays later, Stevens nailed a deep ball to Johnson for a touchdown, but an illegal hands to the face penalty was called on Jeff Taylor. Instead of a 17-10 deficit, the Rams again were unable to score as the two would-be touchdowns on the drive were eliminated.

On CSU’s next drive, Stevens hit a deep ball to Michael Gallup to drive around the CU red zone, but it was wiped out by a flag. Guess what? Offensive pass interference for the third time.

An enraged Bobo called a timeout to berate the officials, but that seemingly was the game right there. The Rams lost 117 yards of offense on those penalties and finished with 10 penalties for 120 yards (CU had seven for 59).

Bobo and his players were too smart to say it publicly, but the officiating was a disaster. All three pass interference calls looked questionable at best.

Former ESPN and current Fox Sports football analyst and Denver Broncos great Mark Schlereth tweeted that the offensive pass interference calls were “asinine.”

Former ESPN reporter Ed Werder tweeted “Atrocious officiating in CU-CSU game. Rams have lost three big plays to dubious OPI penalties, including a TD.”

It’s not a shame because the calls went against CSU, it’s a shame because it could have been such a compelling game.

More:3 thoughts as CU football wins penalty-filled Rocky Mountain Showdown

There was a big crowd and the ebbs and flows of the game had it set up to be a classic. If CSU came back from CU’s early lead, the final minutes would have been must-see.

Bobo said he’ll do what he does every game and send calls in for review and explanation, but the game is done. They’re not going to replay it.

CU did enough to win, with strong defense and enough big plays while the Rams missed on opportunities.

But we’ll never know what this game could have been.

It was a game with unfulfilled potential because of a referee crew that wouldn’t have been out of place in a high school JV game.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and friend him at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.