Western Michigan got hosed. On that we can agree – we being the 99.9% who know 0:00 means The End. The other .01% being Michigan fans.
(Takes a deep breath; doesn’t help.)
Can you tell I’m a little ticked off?
(Takes another deep breath; still doesn’t help)
Justice is what I want. What you want. Especially what Western Michigan wants. But it won’t be what we get, because the Big Ten is pretty much worthless on this stuff. Worthless and spineless. It wouldn’t surprise me if the conference banned its employees from watching Spike Lee’s 1989 masterpiece “Do the Right Thing,” claiming it might put the wrong idea into their heads. You know, they might actually want to do the right thing.
Forgive me, I have failed to reveal the reason for my wrath, though
if you follow college football, or really sports in general, you know by now that No. 16 Michigan defeated(psst, no they didn’t) unranked Western Michigan Sept. 5 on a Hail Mary with no time left on the clock. As in zero seconds, not .00004, or whatever the Big Ten claims.
Replay officials checked the tape and determined that one second should be put back on the clock. Huh? What were they watching? From there, on the last play after the last play, UM quarterback Bryce Underwood launched a second desperation 47-yard heave that this time did not fall incomplete out of the back of the end zone. Instead, it fell into the arms of Wolverine receiver JJ Buchanan, who tumbled across the goal line to give the Maize and (refs) Blew (it) the win. Michigan fans immediately rushed the field, which is the first time I have witnessed a field storming by the losers. Oh, wait … .
The zebras ruled that UM won fair and square, 13-12. I rule that this farce ranks among the most blatant officiating travesties of any era, up there with the Bulgarian and Brazilian boobs who had the game clock reset several times during the 1972 Olympic basketball gold medal game between the United States and former Soviet Union. The Comrade Lenins actually lost twice over the final three seconds of the Cold War catastrophe, but luckily for them those final three seconds were played over again – three times. I kid you not. Finally, in an act of political skulduggery – still unproven, but, well, you know, wink-wink – the Soviets hit a buzzer beater and walked away with a 51-50 win that snapped the Yanks’ 63-game Olympic winning streak.
Grrrrr.
(Takes a breath. Nope, still angry.)
Let me stress that normally I frown upon bellyaching about how games are officiated. Refs are human. They make mistakes, which are part of the game, much to the frustration of fans of every color, including scarlet and gray.
“We got screwed against Clemson in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.”
So I tend to lay off criticizing officials. But this? This? They make conspiracy movies about what just happened at the Big House, which because of the injustice performed inside its brick walls Saturday comes off looking much smaller today. More like a musty basement where things often smell foul. Or like Jim Harbaugh’s former Michigan staff, which to my olfactory nerve is the same thing. The Basement. I like that.
The Big Ten is trying to explain the decision to add time back on the clock by pointing out, incorrectly, that a Western Michigan defender had one foot out of bounds when he tipped Underwood’s first incomplete pass, thus stopping the clock before 0:00. Bah.
"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 Big Ten statement read.
A statement regarding the results of tonight's game between Michigan and Western Michigan. pic.twitter.com/DzJVN2ZLTc
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) September 6, 2026
Further, the conference tried to pull some phony baloney about field cameras syncing with the clock. But NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay insisted that broadcast and stadium clocks were, in fact, in sync.
Let the man talk.
“The ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero,” McAulay said on the NBC broadcast. “Their system, their [camera] 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. The Big Ten is going to have to tell a lot of us how did they get to one second on this play.”
McAulay saw what we all saw. An incomplete pass as time expired. Not before it expired. And then, unfortunately, Western Michigan failed to defend the second long pass to Putin, er, Buchanan.
If there is any consolation in what happened, and admittedly it is hard to find one, it is that Michigan once again comes off looking like the low-down, dirty rotten cheaters they proved themselves to be during the Connor Stalions sign stealing scandal. This respected institution of higher learning houses the most ridiculed football program in America. True, to the best of my knowledge the Wolverines were not behind this latest assault on competitive fairness, but they come off looking like co-conspirators all the same.
That said, some Michigan fans find it hard to stomach what went down with Clockgate. One texted me that he was embarrassed that the Wolverines were gifted the win when the Broncos clearly outplayed his team.
“I feel sorry for their players,” he wrote, adding that time clearly had run out, even if the officials ruled it didn’t.
What does it say when even Michigan Men think the Big Ten messed up? It says Western Michigan got hosed. A shame.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Western Michigan got robbed and the Big Ten should be ashamed
