ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Gophers coach P.J. Fleck was not willing to publicly wade into it, but FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira dove right in. And the Big Ten Conference mostly abstained on the topic.

The Gophers had scored 14 straight points to cut Michigan’s lead to 27-24 on Saturday when Matt Kingsbury was called offsides on an onside kick attempt with 1:37 remaining in the game. Minnesota had recovered the kick and would have had possession at the Wolverines’ 39.

But after the 5-yard penalty, Michigan recovered the re-kick and iced the win at Michigan Stadium.

“I don’t think he’s offside,” Pereira said as replays were shown on the TV broadcast. “If you take a look at the high shot, the all-22 (players view), I don’t think he is breaking the plane.

“It’s so technical,” Pereira added. “To me, he’s not. It’s awfully close. Nothing can be done: not reviewable, obviously.”

Color commentator Joel Klatt wanted more, with the replay far away on the other sideline. “Boy, you would love it to be something that was clear and obvious,” he said. “That one, it looked like just a hair.”

If that. But Fleck was not willing to get close to a call that came down to a foot or maybe inches.

“I have not seen the last play, nor does one play win or lose you the game,” Fleck said. “Everyone is going to focus on that. I’m not going to sit here and get fined and all those other things. I have more respect for my boss and the University of Minnesota and the Big Ten to say that is one play.”

Fleck was asked by a reporter to share what he saw and heard from officials on the U sideline about the under-the-microscope call at the Big House.

“I was 10 yards away,” Fleck said. “I was down where the ball was going to be received because that is (what) I really want to see.”

It was the official standing on the U sideline at the kickoff line who made the call. It was directly in front of him. Kingsbury was on the near-side numbers when the call was made. The flag was thrown immediately after Kingsbury and teammates crossed the line.

The official told Fleck that Kingsbury “broke the plane.”

And that is pretty much that, according to the Big Ten Conference.

The Big Ten has a pool report policy for reporters to ask officials questions about calls in games, but that is reserved for clarification or explanation of rules, not questions with binary answers to, for example, whether a player was offsides or not, Big Ten spokesman Paul Kennedy told the Pioneer Press on Saturday evening.

The conference also doesn’t give statements on judgement calls in games because the multitudes of those calls across the schedule each Saturday, Kennedy shared. That policy doesn’t change for calls when the stakes are magnified in late and close games such as Saturday in Michigan.

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