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In Week 2, Michigan State was playing Arizona State on ESPN in what was an extremely late start time (10:45 p.m.).
During the game, the Spartans had to punt and punter Jake Hartbarger got hit in a very obvious manner. There was no penalty called.
On Tuesday, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio announced that Hartbarger is out for 6-8 weeks with what is a bone bruise or possibly a fracture:
Jake Hartbarger out 6-8 weeks; Tyriq Thompson missing Arizona trip was not an injury and more MSU notes https://t.co/ikwjYH7QKm via @detroitnews
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) September 11, 2018
Also on Tuesday, the Big Ten made a statement regarding there being no flag on the play, by keeping quiet:
Big Ten statement on no penalty being called on hit of MSU punter Jake Hartbarger, who subsequently was injured: "We typically do not make public statements regarding specific judgment calls that occur in a given game."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) September 11, 2018
It’s understandable for a conference to not want to get into specific plays and penalties being called or not. As the conference stated, penalties are often judgment calls.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.