Controversy.
It’s a word that could either describe the last month of the college football offseason or the last 10 months of the Michigan Wolverines’ football program. Saturday night’s game underscored the point as the Wolverines, somehow, walked out of the Big House with a victory, while their opponents, the Western Michigan Broncos, were left asking: What the heck just happened?
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It was supposed to be clean air and blue skies for Michigan coming into the first week of the 2026 season. Kyle Whittingham was set to erase any talk of what the Wolverines’ offseason was all about – dealing with the fallout of the Sherrone Moore scandal. Saturday night represented the perfect opportunity to do that. Instead, timing and clocks were all the rage.
Western Michigan thought they were going to leave Ann Arbor with a massive upset victory. Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood tried a last-second heave to reach the end zone and win the game on a Hail Mary throw. His pass sailed through the back of the end zone.
The Broncos started to celebrate. It would have been one of the biggest wins in school history.
In the words of the famed college football personality Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.”
Officials on the field called for a review. It already seemed as though the game was over. Those watching the game at home saw the clock hit triple zeroes. The ball seemingly hit the hand of a Western Michigan defender when the TV scorebug saw the zeroes on the clock.
But after conferring, officials determined there was one second left on the clock.
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“I definitely thought the game was over because there were zeroes on the clock,” Underwood said.
Instead, Underwood got one more chance to fire up a Hail Mary pass. This time, to perfection. J.J. Buchanan came down with the ball and scored the game-winning 47-yard touchdown. Michigan won the game, 13-12.
“One for the history books right here,” Whittingham said.
So, what happened?
The Big Ten Conference released a statement, backing up the officials’ decision. Here was the statement word-for-word.
“Following video review, it was determined Western Michigan’s #18 started his jump from an established out-of-bounds position (left foot) and made contact with the ball with one second remaining on the clock. As shown in the provided video of what was viewed during the replay process, a side-by-side view of the play and the game clock, using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium, was used to determine the final ruling.
“Eighty-five minutes prior to the game, all broadcast cameras used for the replay system, including the camera on the game clock, are synced using a strobe system to ensure all cameras are aligned.
“Per NCAA Football rule 4-2-3-a, ‘A ball not in player control, other than a kick that scores a field goal, is out of bounds when it touches the ground, a player, a game official or anything else that is out-of-bound, or that is on or outside a boundary line.’ and thus the clock is stopped.”
The Mid-American Conference Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher also released a statement on the issue.
“Upon the conclusion of the Western Michigan-Michigan football game, the Mid-American Conference and Western Michigan contacted the Big Ten office to seek clarification regarding the replay review and the placement of time back on the game clock,” he said.
“The Big Ten explained that the ball touched a player who was out of bounds before the clock reached 00:00, resulting in one additional play being awarded. The Big Ten subsequently provided video and audio of the play, which confirmed the explanation provided to us.
“I commend Western Michigan for an outstanding effort and a well-played game and I offer my congratulations to Michigan.
“I also appreciate the collaborative efforts of the Big Ten office and its prompt response in reviewing the play and providing the requested clarification.”
NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay was as confused as anyone else.
“Talking to a producer and he tells us our in-set clock is in sync – is the actual stadium clock,” McAulay said. “The ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero. Their Hawk-Eye system either had a different sync or whatever, and they came up with one second when it touched the players.
“I don’t see how that happened, assuming our clock is correct. The ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero on our screens.”
Western Michigan’s hopes were shattered and players looked a bit shell-shocked on the sideline.
College football fans watching at home were confused.
“Sick to my stomach is the way I explain my feelings about that game,” Western Michigan defensive end Dom Nichols said.
Michigan avoided its biggest upset since losing to Appalachian State at the beginning of the 2007 season. They were 33-point favorites then. On Saturday, they were 27.5-point favorites.
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Western Michigan has never beaten an opponent in the top 20 of the Associated Press poll.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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