Utah athletic director Mark Harlan made an impromptu appearance at the podium following No. 9 BYU’s 22-21 win over the Utes Saturday night.

Harlan had scathing words about the referee, saying the game was stolen in Utah.

“I have been a sports director for 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan told reporters. “We were excited to be in the Big 12, but tonight I’m not.”

He continued: “We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. I will speak to the commissioner (of the Big 12 Conference). It wasn’t fair to our team. I am disgusted by the professionalism of the officials team tonight. THANKS.”

Utah surrendered a game-winning drive to BYU in the final two minutes, capped by a 44-yard Will Ferrin field goal with four seconds remaining.

However, the drive initially appeared to be over when Jake Retzlaff was sacked at the BYU 1 on fourth down with over a minute and a half to play.

The Utes, however, were called for a holding penalty on the play, giving the Cougars a first down and new life.

After the penalty, BYU drove 65 yards for the winning score.

Utah led 21-10 at halftime – using three second-quarter touchdowns to take the lead – before BYU rallied by outscoring the Utes 12-0 in the second half.

Utah finished the evening with 10 penalties for 90 yards.

Asked about the officiating, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, “It’s a ridiculous situation. I’m not going to go in there. …Things there were ridiculous. I’ll leave it there.