Colorado scraped past Georgia Tech in Atlanta with a tense 14-13 win on Thursday night. But Deion Sanders and his boys were not the only ones trending. The officiating crew kicked up a massive storm online. One line judge found herself in the crosshairs of angry football fans who felt her quick whistles almost cost Coach Prime the game.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
In the fourth quarter around 10:26, Colorado RB Damian Henderson II took the handoff and kept pushing after contact. He had already crossed the 20-yard line and appeared to continue fighting toward the Georgia Tech 16 before the whistle came. Instead, officials ruled him down around the 21, leaving Colorado with a 2nd and 6. That immediately set off social media.
“WHY ARE THESE REFS BLOWING PLAYS DEAD?” a frustrated fan fumed. “That Colorado RB never stopped going forward, and then once there was contact the ref blew the whistle and marked him 5 yards back from where he was when tackled.”
Another commented, wanting her to stop officiating games. “That line judge is terrible. She keeps blowing the whistle before the play is over. Colorado RB was very clearly still moving forward.”
The funny part about the Henderson spot is that the early whistle actually saved Colorado from a massive disaster. The senior running back seemed to lose the football at the end of the run. Because the official had already blown the play dead, the fumble did not count. Even so, fans were blinded by anger. One viewer lashed out online, claiming that the “ref just screwed Colorado out of 5 yards.”
There was more frustration coming from viewers who had clearly run out of patience. Then came the criticism from another viewer. “These officials in this Colorado/Georgia Tech game have zero idea of when to blow the play dead,” they posted.
Georgia Tech wasn’t spared either. Earlier, the Yellow Jackets appeared to force a fumble and return it for a touchdown. But their celebration was short-lived. Officials ruled that forward progress had been stopped before the ball came loose, wiping out what looked like a huge defensive score.
One fan summed up the scene, taking aim not only at the referee but at the two teams as well: “Officiating for this CU vs GT game has been horrendous. Early whistles, pi– poor spots. Not to mention both of these teams are playing very sloppy.”
Another wrote, “The refs in the Colorado vs Ga Tech have no idea how to officiate forward progress.”
The calls mattered because Georgia Tech eventually took a 10-7 lead into halftime. Colorado had also survived another nervous moment when QB Julian Lewis’ second-quarter play was initially ruled a fumble before replay overturned it to an incomplete pass. So the Buffs were not thriving. They needed their QB to rescue them late, and he did.
With 37 seconds left, Julian Lewis found TR Charlie Williams for a 20-yard touchdown that put Colorado ahead 14-13. Georgia Tech still had a chance to steal it. The Yellow Jackets drove into position, only for Colorado’s special teams to block the potential game-winning field goal. That sealed the win.
The officials, though, remained a separate conversation. Fans were never going to agree on every forward-progress ruling, but the repeated early whistles and disputed spots made the officiating impossible to ignore. But Colorado got the result Deion Sanders wanted.