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Officials eject Jaishawn Barham, erase Michigan defensive TD over controversial targeting call

Danby: Daniel Hager21 hours agoDanielHagerOn3
Officials-eject-Jaishawn-Barham-erase-Michigan-defensive-TD-over-controversial-targeting-call

Michigan linebacker Jaishawn Barham was ejected from Saturday night’s season opener against New Mexico following a controversial hit on Lobo quarterback Jack Layne.

Layne originally fumbled and Barham picked it up for a touchdown, but it was overturned once the targeting call was made and he was ejected. He will be ineligible for the first half at Oklahoma next week unless Michigan wins an appeal with the NCAA.

“It’s clear that the replay officials in the command center felt that he did lead with his head and make forcible contact to the head/neck area of a defenseless player,” NBC Sports‘ on-air rules analyst Terry McAulay said on the broadcast. “I see it more as a wrap-up tackle but this was subjective and that was their decision.”

Barham didn’t quite make an impact on the box score prior to his ejection, but he will surely be missed in the first half of next weekend’s clash with Oklahoma. Last season, he played in 13 games and recorded 66 tackles, four TFL, one sack and two pass deflections.

College GameDay is headed to Norman for Michigan/Oklahoma

Per Kirk Herbstreit on Friday, ‘College GameDay’ will be in Norman as its location for Week 2. That’s a Top 20 matchup currently set to be played there with No. 14 Michigan vs. No. 18 Oklahoma.

Michigan and Oklahoma are among the most well-known teams when it comes to ‘College GameDay’ hostings. They’re each in the top four in most total appearances ever, with the Sooners being on the show for 41 episodes, while the Wolverines are tied with Georgia and Notre Dame for fourth-most with 40. They’re also both in the Top 10 in wins when the show comes to their city or game, with Oklahoma being 27-14 and Michigan being 21-19.

However, the last trip to Norman by ‘College GameDay’ was a loss for OU. The crew traveled there last year for Oklahoma’s debut game in the SEC, with the Sooners losing 25-15 in a Top 15 matchup to No. 6 Tennessee, also coached by one of their alumni in Josh Heupel.

That same storyline now comes this time with the maize & blue. Sherrone Moore, the head coach of the Wolverines, played on the offensive line for the Sooners in 2007 and 2008. He’ll return to his alma mater next weekend, before serving a two-game, self-imposed suspension related to the sign-stealing scandal in Ann Arbor.

This game has several storylines throughout it for Oklahoma from the SEC and Michigan from the Big Ten. That makes it an obvious choice for ‘College GameDay’ in week two, for what’ll be their first episode in their new era post-Coach Corso.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.