Michigan is undefeated in the Kyle Whittingham era, thanks to a 13-12 win over Western Michigan at the Big House on Saturday night, converting a Hail Mary for a touchdown on the game’s final play.
But the Wolverines needed one second put back on the clock for that final play to happen, and it set the stage for an ending that will be talked about for weeks.
Western Michigan dominated time of possession on Saturday night, maintaining the ball for more than 40 minutes as they built a 12-7 lead heading into the game’s final minute. That included a massive 20-play drive that carried from the third quarter into the fourth, which the Broncos finished off with a field goal to take a 9-7 lead.
The Broncos seemed to have the game in hand when Dieter Kelly converted a 33-yard field goal with just 35 seconds remaining, which gave Western Michigan a 12-7 lead. The Wolverines were out of timeouts, and needed a touchdown to stave off the upset.
The drive started slowly, but quarterback Bryce Underwood found wide receiver JJ Buchanan for a 28-yard gain to advance the ball into Western Michigan territory. Underwood spiked the ball with 11 seconds left, giving the Wolverines a chance for one, maybe two, throws into the end zone.
On the next snap Underwood bought some time in the pocket, seemingly putting the outcome on the game’s final pass. His Hail Mary attempt sailed out of bounds as time expired, and it looked for the moment as if the Broncos had pulled off the upset.
But after a review, officials put one second back on the clock.
You be the judge of that decision:
To the bewilderment of the NBC Sports crew, and virtually everyone watching the game and commenting on social media, one second was put back on the clock.
That was enough to give Underwood and the Wolverines time to pull off a true miracle:
This time, Underwood kept the throw in the field of play, and Buchanan went up to pull in the throw amidst a mass of bodies at the goal line, delivering a true stunner for the Wolverines.
And sending Western Michigan and their fans home in shock.
Terry McAulay, the NBC Sports rules analyst, had this to say about the decision to put one second back on the clock:
“[Our NBC producer] tells us that our inset clock is the actual stadium clock. The ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero. Now their Hawk-Eye system apparently 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. It is clearly not touching a player; the ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero on our screen. The Big Ten is going to have to tell a lot of us how did they get to one second on this play.”
To that point, here is a look at the state of play when the clock hits 00:00:
Still, the touchdown went into the books, touching off madness at the Big House:
But you can expect this ending will be discussed in the days — if not weeks — that follow.
