Michigan and Western Michigan played a nail-biter last weekend that came down to one final Hail Mary. As time expired, Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood's pass fell incomplete — a result that would've handed Western Michigan an unthinkable 12-7 upset over one of college football's elite bluebloods. But replay officials ruled that a Broncos defender touched the ball while out of bounds with one second still on the clock, stopping the clock and giving Michigan one more play.
Underwood then hit JJ Buchanan on a 47-yard, game-winning touchdown, ending the game with a final score of 13-12. However, TV broadcasts clearly showed the clock hitting zero before the ball was touched, and the Big Ten's replay system had used a different clock feed than the one fans saw on NBC. The MAC, Western Michigan's conference, argued the wrong clock was used and that the Broncos shouldn't have lost.
The NCAA pushed back, though, saying it had no way to overturn a final score. All of that led to Tuesday night, when the NCAA rolled out a new approach to "establish a standard timing protocol." In a memo obtained by ESPN, the NCAA said the official time should always be whatever's shown on the in-stadium game clock. And if a replay review requires fixing the clock, officials should go by the clock embedded in the broadcast feed — not some separate internal system.
In short: everyone should be looking at the same clock, whether they're in the booth or watching at home. Had this rule been in place for the Michigan-Western Michigan game, the Broncos likely would've walked away with one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. More news: Dabo Swinney Sends Defiant Message Amid Clemson Buyout Rumors More news: Bryce Underwood’s Struggles Raising Alarm Bells Ahead of Oklahoma For Broncos fans, that's bittersweet.
On one hand, the NCAA is essentially acknowledging it got this one wrong, and that Western Michigan probably should've won. But it doesn't change the scoreboard. The Broncos remain 0-1 on the season, while the Wolverines head into Week 2 undefeated — though that probably won't last, with No. 11 Oklahoma and one of the best defenses in the country coming to Ann Arbor.
As for Western Michigan, the loss — and how it happened — still stings, even with the new protocol in place. But going toe-to-toe with a program like Michigan bodes well for the Broncos' chances going forward, with winnable games against Monmouth, Rice, Boise State, and Buffalo still ahead. More news: SEC Takes First Step Toward Potentially Banning LSU From Conference
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