College football saw one of its most exciting finishes recently on Saturday, Oct. 17 when University of Michigan punter Blake O’Neill mishandled a snap with just 10 seconds remaining and allowed rival Michigan State to scoop up the ball and return it for a touchdown.

Michigan State’s Spartans had pulled off a miracle. The final score was 27-23 in their favor, putting Michigan’s Wolverines away for the seventh time in eight seasons.

It was safe to say Michigan’s fan base was not happy with the result. In this age of social media, fans took to Twitter and expressed their displeasure. O’Neill was notably singled out, receiving insults and jabs over botching a routine play.

Things quickly went too far, with some of these messages containing threats on O’Neill’s life.

“[O’Neill should] jump off a cliff into a pool of spikes and cyanide,” a Twitter user said, reported by Aaron McMann of MLive.com. The user also said, “you might as well cut your hands off.”

Some tweets were even more disturbing. According to Bleacher Report a different user advised O’Neill to “start chugging that bleach my friend.”

Extreme, hateful, and barbaric are a few terms that could be used to describe these statements made by supposed “fans” of Michigan’s football program. Jim Hackett, Michigan’s Interim Athletic Director, released a letter the following day describing his shock over the comments.

“Today I awake to the shocking reality that our community who care so much about this program would send hurtful, spiteful and vicious comments to one of our students,” said Hackett, according to CBS News. “I’m asking that our community not lose this game twice by condoning thoughtless comments.”

This is not the first time a college athlete, especially a football player, has come under fire for causing his team to lose a high-profile game.

In 2010, the Boise State Broncos were enjoying an undefeated season before they lost to the Nevada Wolfpack 34-31 in a late-season game. Blame was largely placed on the Broncos’s kicker Kyle Brotzman, who missed two late field goals that would have helped the Broncos secure a win.

Much like O’Neill, Brotzman soon began receiving threatening messages over the phone and on social media. This occurred despite Brotzman’s strong success in his career, which included more successful field goals than any kicker in Western Athletic Conference history.

There was some support for Brotzman, however.

“From what I have seen and what little I’ve heard, I think the fans have been great,” said Chris Petersen, Boise State’s head coach at the time, according to ESPN. “You’re always going to have the other side, the other third, that can’t do it the way you’d like them to. I don’t know if those are BSU fans to tell you the truth.”

Why these types of situations occur may be beyond the scope of explanation, but American sports fans may have a problem when it comes to taking game results too seriously if it results in death threats.