Terrell Owens says refs 'should be fired' for controversial call in Missouri State loss

Add Terrell Owens to the list of people who disagree with the crucial call that turned out to be the deciding play in Missouri State's loss on Saturday.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer chimed in on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he disagreed with the decision to overturn an incomplete pass on Illinois State's two-point conversion with 38 seconds left in the game.

The two points turned out to be the difference in Missouri State's 36-35 loss to the Redbirds.

"There’s ABSOLUTELY NO WAY this is a catch!!! The “ENTIRE OFFICIATING CREW” should be FIRED!!!" Owens wrote, while quote tweeting a video of the play. A few members of the Missouri State coaching staff retweeted Owens' post.

More: What MSU coach Ryan Beard said about the 2 controversial calls on ISU's game-winning drive

Owens is the father of Missouri State wide receiver Terique Owens. He has been on the sideline for several Bears football games over the last three years.

Missouri State had two reviews overturn calls go against it during Illinois State's game-winning drive. One was on a fourth-down conversion that would have given the Bears the ball in Redbirds territory with 1:41 left. The other was the two-point conversion.

The two-point conversion saw Illinois State backup quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse roll to his right with Wenkers Wright well-covered right in front of him. The defender covering Wenkers ran at Rittenhouse leaving the running back open for an easy toss.

Wright appeared to have caught the ball at the one before he broke the plane. As Wright unnecessarily reached for the pylon, he lost control of the ball and dropped it. He immediately put his hands on his face, thinking that he lost his team the game, as the line judge ruled the play incomplete.

After several minutes of review, referee Rick Warne announced to the crowd that Wenkers had possession of the ball and then broke the plane of the goal line — negating the drop and giving the Redbirds the game-winning points.

"You can't ever leave the game up to the officials," Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard said in the opening statement of his postgame press conference. "You have to do what you have to do to finish the game the right way so those are non-factors."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Terrell Owens reacts to controversy in Missouri State loss to Redbirds