It’s not easy to get flagged for three fouls on one football play. But impossible is nothing for the Michigan Wolverines, who pulled it off on Saturday.
First, two Michigan players went offside: defensive tackle Maurice Hurst (No. 73) and defensive back Khaleke Hudson (No. 7). That’s an impressive double offsides, but we’re only counting it as one foul for the purposes of this explanation:
The defensive back in coverage at the end of the play, Brandon Watson, got flagged for holding. That’s two.
As the ball was flying downfield, Hurst bulldozed Indiana QB Payton Ramsey. Roughing the passer makes three called fouls on the same play:
A team can only accept one penalty per play, and Indiana chose to take 15 yards and an automatic first down for that personal foul.
This has been an extraordinarily penalized game in general. Just in the first half, Michigan had 11 penalties for 98 yards, and Indiana had four for 50. The Wolverines led 13-3 despite all of those penalties, which was impressive.