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Toledo Administration Officially Requests Its Game Against Syracuse Be Vacated

According to Zach Silka, a beat writer that covers Toledo sports for the Toledo blade,the Rockets' athletic administration has officially requested that the game against Syracuse be vacated due to the now admittedly blown call that gave Syracuse the opportunity to go to overtime and ultimately win the game. Toledo officials have requested that the Big East vacate the game. Vacating the game would mean that neither Toledo nor Syracuse would get a win or a loss in the official record for the game.

From Silka's article:

"This can be looked upon in a variety of ways," O'Brien said. "Whether it be sour grapes, that athletic director is a sore loser, or praised, I think it's important we show our football team that we truly support them, that we show our football coach and his staff we're here for them and support them and tell our fan base that it wasn't a situation where the University of Toledo just lays down."

UT coach Tim Beckman called the blown call an "injustice" against his team.

"I'm here today to fight for our Rocket football team," Beckman said. "The game of football has numerous human errors throughout a game. The players, coaches and officials are all apart of these. That's football. But when you add technology to a call and it is not used properly, it is injustice. The use of instant replay is there to make a call right."

This request could lead to a couple of awkward situations for Syracuse. While there is no situation where the Orange wind up with a loss, the team's struggles through four games make every win a necessity if they hope to return to the postseason. Vacating an official win might leave the Orange a win short of bowl eligibility. If the decision lies with the Big East Conference leadership, Syracuse might find itself depending on the organization it just insulted and betrayed to hold on to its win and keep a bowl a possibility. Is Big East commssioner John Marinatto angry enough to use a situation like this to get one more dig in at the program that might be ushering in the end of the Big East as a football conference? 

You can view a replay of the blown extra point call here: