Illinois Receiver Brian Hightower Slams Refs After Seemingly Clear Touchdown Ruled Incomplete Pass Against Indiana

Illinois receiver Brian Hightower appeared to be on the wrong end of a terrible missed call by officials during the game against Indiana on Friday night.

When trailing 10-7 in the second quarter, Fighting Illini quarterback Tommy DeVito appeared to find Hightower for a go-ahead touchdown. And although it looked like Hightowere made an impressive catch going over the corner on the play, refs ruled it an incomplete pass, and Illinois had to settle for a game-tying field goal.

You be the judge on whether or not this should have been ruled a touchdown for Illinois:

This was ruled as an incomplete pass in the Illinois-Indiana game

pic.twitter.com/JmbOy4HdxE

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 3, 2022

After the game, Brian Hightower took to social media to claim he was “robbed” for not being awarded a touchdown on the play. And he would also retweet a post that showed him having control of the football while on the ground.

I mean…@Champaign_Room pic.twitter.com/c8NSmEOEPa

— Brad Repplinger (@TCRBrad) September 3, 2022

Indiana would go on to beat Illinois 23-20 thanks to a touchdown with 23 seconds remaining on the clock.

After the game, Illinois head coach Brett Bielema shared his take that Brian Hightower caught the ball.

“Yet, we do things to overcome it. I think a critical point in the game, it felt like it was right there for us to push it over the edge,” Bielema said via 247 Sports. “I thought Hightower claimed up and down that he caught that pass in the back of the end zone. Obviously that went to replay … but Brian was just animated that he caught that. If that would’ve happened, but the game isn’t made of woulda, coulda, shouldas, so we got to overcome those moments.”

Illinois will hope to get more breaks fall their way when they host Virginia next Saturday.

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