Dave Portnoy Fires Back at ‘Jealous Losers’ Claiming Refs Rigged Game for Michigan in Wild Finish Vs. Western Michigan

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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy claimed that those crying foul over Michigan’s controversial win over Western Michigan were “jealous losers” in a rant on Monday.

The Wolverines narrowly avoided a massive upset when the team scored on an improbable Hail Mary as time expired. The game-winner notably came after the referees reviewed the previous play and put one second back on the clock, allowing Michigan to take one more shot at the end zone.

The wild finish has been the subject of intense debate since Saturday, with the overwhelming majority of sports fans believing Western Michigan was robbed of a major win over its rival.

Shortly after the game concluded, the Big Ten Conference released a statement explaining that a Western Michigan player touched the ball while out of bounds with one second remaining. That statement did not help to quell the outrage.

During Monday’s episode of Wake Up Barstool, Portnoy suggested that the critics accusing the refs of rigging the game were merely jealous of Michigan.

“We beat these guys fair and square!” Portnoy said. “We beat them fair and square! Western Michigan and the MAC conference say we beat them fair and square! The only people who are saying something nefarious happened are jealous losers who either didn’t get into Michigan, have Michigan envy, grew up in the South and wish they grew up in more populated area like [Barstool co-host] Brandon Walker. That’s it. There’s nothing to see here.”

Portnoy went on to say that he would take a last-second finish like that over a blowout win.

“I’m gonna tell stories about this game!” he continued. “This is going to become like an urban legend, a song that people sing to their grandchildren in Michigan. ‘Where were you during the Michigan miracle?’ So listen, you want to say they cheated. That’s just wrong. Every single person with influence would have seen the clocks, including Western Michigan. The MAC conference said there was nothing nefarious. The clocks were right.”

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