Kansas football fans react to multiple questionable calls vs. Illinois

The referees in the Kansas football vs. Illinois contest have made some questionable calls, especially in the second half.

There have been some debatable calls in the second half of the Kansas Jayhawks game against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Refereeing has cost the team several points, both on the offensive and defensive end.

In addition to the abnormally high number of unsportsmanlike conduct calls, phantom flags are being thrown out left and right tonight. Mason Fairchild was called for an illegal block in the back on what would have been a touchdown catch by Doug Emilien. Fairchild hardly touched the Illinois football defender, yet Kansas had to settle for three instead of a touchdown.

Illinois followed up the blunder from the officials with a 72-yard touchdown run by quarterback Luke Altmyer. Bret Bielema opted to go for a two-point conversion to trim the lead to 19, and he threw an incomplete pass out the back of the end zone. But wait — there’s more.

Austin Booker, a Minnesota transfer, already had recorded a pair of sacks in the contest. When Altmyer tossed the incompletion, the Kansas football defensive lineman met the signal caller with a spear-like tackle in the ribs. It knocked the wind out of Altmyer, but it knocked Booker out of the game with a targeting penalty.

Sure, it was a hard hit, but this is just a big dude making a football play. See it for yourself:

It was an enormous blow to the defense, which has not looked as strong as it did in the first half. The team will be without one of the top edge rushers for the rest of today and the first half of next week’s showdown against Nevada in Reno.

Kansas football fans reacted to these poor calls on X (formerly Twitter).

(Updated 9:30 p.m. CT)

You can’t make this stuff up. Cobee Bryant, the best player on the Kansas football defense, was just ejected for targeting a receiver who ducked his head into the tackle.

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