ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was something of a bang-bang play as Michigan football linebacker Jaishawn Barham burst through the edge and came up on New Mexico’s quarterback, getting him on the ground for what, at least, was going to be a big sack — if not a fumble recovered for a touchdown. Under further review, it wasn’t a fumble, but the referee ended up tagging Barham for targeting, and he was ejected from the game and will not be available in the first half against Oklahoma on Saturday.
After the win over the Lobos, head coach Sherrone Moore said that the Wolverines would appeal to the Big Ten, but he revealed on Monday that the Big Ten has upheld the suspension, even though conference president Tony Petitti and vice president A.J. Ebbs belive that it should be overturned.
“Yeah, literally just heard about it,” Moore said. “It was upheld, and we don’t agree with it. Tony doesn’t agree with it. A.J. doesn’t agree with it. It’s a rule we have to get changed, and we have to look at in college football just for the general — the game, the toughness of the game, and how you want to teach tackling, and how you want to teach guys that are 6-3, tackling a guy that’s 5-8. He lowers his head, and it might be even worse. He tries to duck to the side, and the guy spins, he misses. There’s a way that we have to teach guys how to tackle and what to do, and there was a clear shot earlier in the game where he had a clear shot and he saw it right through the guy and avoided it. He took one step, and that’s what happened.”
Barham did make helmet-to-helmet contact with Jack Layne, but he didn’t lead with his crown, having turned his head in order to attempt to avoid contact, it appears. However, with the ruling upheld, Moore believes it’s time to move on and that the Wolverines do have the linebackers available who can uphold the standard of play against the Sooners on Saturday.
“That was the ruling, and we’ll continue to work and fight for the game, but completely disagree with it, as did Tony and A.J. with the Big Ten, but we have to move on,” Moore said. “We got the first half without him, and those guys would step up. Ernie played a heck of a game, so it was fun to watch Ernie. He was 8 tackles, and he was all over the field, leader on the team, and when Jimmy Rolder came in, it was as violent as that, and he played physical and fast, and then Cole Sullivan came in and made an impact. So there’s three guys there that we feel really good about, along with Troy Bowles and Chase Taylor. It’s a deep room, and we’re happy we got those guys, but obviously Jaishawn’s an impact guy that we’ll have ready for the second half.”
Michigan and Oklahoma are set to kick off at 7:44 p.m. EDT in Norman. The game will be broadcast nationally by ABC.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Big Ten upholds targeting ejection of Jaishawn Barham; Sherrone Moore wants rule to change
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
