This wasn’t ideal.

In the fourth quarter of the Michigan-Northwestern game, the Wolverines were trailing 17-13. Michigan was driving, but needed a big play to extend its drive. Quarterback Shea Patterson faked a hand-off to RB Karan Higdon and kept it for himself.

Patterson went about 20 yards before being touched. Unfortunately, it was all for not.

Why?

Because Higdon was called for holding.

You be the judge on if this is holding:

Like Yahoo Sports said, somehow, this was called holding. How? We’re not sure.

The play design was perfect. Patterson and Higdon both sold it well. Well enough to get a defender to believe that Higdon actually had the ball.

It’s exactly what you want if you’re Michigan.

What you don’t want is for a referee to somehow think that being tackled by a defender is the same as holding a player from getting to your QB. The Wolverines can’t seem to avoid penalties no matter what they do.

Michigan-Northwestern can be seen on FOX.