No. 16 Michigan beat Western Michigan 13-12 in Ann Arbor on Saturday night after officials reviewed what appeared to be the last play of the game, put one second back on the clock, and gave the Wolverines a second Hail Mary. Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown on the replayed down, according to the Associated Press.
Michigan was a 27.5-point favorite in Kyle Whittingham's debut as the Wolverines' head coach.
What happened on the final two plays
Underwood's first Hail Mary sailed out of the back of the end zone with the clock on the NBC broadcast reading 0:00. Western Michigan players were already on the field celebrating when the officiating crew called for a review. TV replays showed the clock hitting zero before the ball reached the hands of a Western Michigan defender, but the crew ruled a second remained.
"I was pretty sure there was 1 second left," Whittingham said. Given the extra down, Underwood heaved another throw and Buchanan leaped to bring it down in the end zone.
"One for the history books right here," Whittingham said.
The Big Ten's explanation
In a statement released after the game and reported by CBS Sports, the Big Ten said the crew got the call right, identifying the defender as Western Michigan's Micah Davis.
"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," the statement read. "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."
The conference also addressed how its cameras are calibrated: "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."
NBC's rules analyst could not reconcile it
On the broadcast, NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay said the network's clock and the stadium clock were in sync, and could not account for what the crew saw.
"The ball isn't even close to touching a player when it goes to zero," McAulay said. "Their system, their hawkeye system, apparently either had a different sync or whatever, and they came up with one second when it touched a player. I don't see that happen. Assuming our clock is correct, it is clearly not touching a player. The ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero on our screen."
Western Michigan is asking for a second look
Broncos coach Lance Taylor said he believed MAC leadership had already reached out for clarification on the call.
"I know when I looked up at the clock, it was past zeroes before we touched it," Taylor said. "I knew that they would review it. It's the last play of the game. And because we defended it so well, I wasn't worried or concerned about our guys going out and defending it a second time. Unfortunately, we did not defend it as well the second time."
Western Michigan president Russ Kavalhuna addressed the media after the game, an unusual step for a school president. "We'll talk to our commissioner and we'll try to see if there's anything that we can ask for a review on," he said. "Frankly, I don't know if we can. I just want everyone to know that this football team deserves a second look, if that's possible."
How close the upset came
Western Michigan, the defending MAC champion, kicked four field goals and forced three turnovers. Dieter Kelly, a junior-college transfer from College of San Mateo, put the Broncos ahead for the first time early in the fourth quarter with a 39-yard kick that capped a 20-play drive lasting 13 minutes and 40 seconds. His fourth field goal, with 35 seconds left, forced Michigan to score a touchdown to win.
Underwood threw an interception in the first half, nearly threw two more, and lost a fumble at his own 31-yard line with 1:50 to play. "This isn't on Bryce Underwood," Whittingham said. "It's on me."
Western Michigan has played major college football in the Mid-American Conference since 1962 and has never beaten a team ranked in the top 20 of the Associated Press poll. The closest comparison is Appalachian State beating Michigan to open the 2007 season, when the Wolverines were a 33-point favorite.
"There was not hooting and hollering in the locker room because we have a lot of work to do," Whittingham said.
Western Michigan hosts Monmouth next Saturday. Michigan hosts No. 10 Oklahoma.
The conference reviewing its own crew
The review was run by a Big Ten crew, the statement defending it came from the Big Ten, and the review Kavalhuna described would run from Western Michigan through the MAC to that same conference. Uristocrat has covered the Big Ten's proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 28 teams and Kirby Smart saying the SEC is "not afraid to break away" from the NCAA.
Source: Associated Press via CNN, CBS Sports
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