Oh, it’s on now. The underdog took a swing. Mostly to lobby.
This isn’t the worst idea considering college football rankings are heavily influenced by perception. And after Michigan football’s find-a-second, use-a-second Hail-Mary win on Saturday, Sept. 5, over Western Michigan, the Wolverines fell down one of the polls and out of the other.
The Broncos, meanwhile, got some votes.
Voters – both coaches and sports writers – know what’s up. At least some did, in the aftermath of the strangest, most controversial miracle-play ending in modern college football history.
Those voters may not have watched any part of the game, at least until its most viral moments were clipped and sent around the digital universe, but they know an injustice when they see
one ... hear one ... read about one.
Which made it smart for MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher to double down on that perception Tuesday, Sept, 8, by writing a letter to the NCAA oversight committee asking the organization to officially overturn the result of the game because the Big Ten hadn’t followed protocol.
He fired one off to the College Football Playoff committee, too, just in case WMU – the defending MAC champ – finds itself anywhere near a bubble when CFP brass is deciding which Group of Six squad gets into the season-ending tournament.
The NCAA, according to its bylaws, almost certainly doesn’t have the authority to change the outcome, and short of a Presidential make-the-red-card-disappear maneuver (which backfired spectacularly in July, by the way), the Broncos are likely big-game hunting with blanks.
Or are they?
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A formal score reversal isn’t all that’s in play here. Steinbrecher’s hold-my-beer U-turn Tuesday isn’t a simple aim at changing numbers. It’s a longer aim at changing how its reigning conference champ is viewed.
Not to mention how Saturday night at Michigan Stadium will be viewed. Not that the MAC commissioner needed to sway many on that. U-M did that on its own.
The Wolverines – players and coaching staff – have nothing to do with the way so much of college football sees its program. But the school doesn’t get off the hook for why Saturday’s debacle hit our collective unfunny bone so hard.
Oh, the program didn’t directly do anything to mess with the clock – or the decision to add a second to it – but it is 100% responsible for its past half decade of shenanigans. Steinbrecher, who initially took the high road Saturday night, understood his about-face – and the resulting letter – would be welcomed because of the dented Michigan football brand.
He also understood that by writing the letter, WMU wouldn’t have to, and that’s important here, primarily because it lets coach Lance Taylor and school president Russ Kavalhuna largely stay on message as educators.
Scoff if you want, but their tone was not only refreshing after the brutal loss, but important. It reminded that sportsmanship can still be a thing, and what we try to teach our kids, even when a once-in-a-lifetime upset is taken away.
Kavalhuna issued his own statement, after Steinbrecher’s, on Tuesday.
“Commissioner Steinbrecher and the MAC have taken important action,” he wrote, “... some have read our actions as weak. However, supporting student-athletes and their growth during a time of adversity is strength.”
In other words, go ... well, it’s not hard to read between the lines, and this is a family newspaper. Good for the president for defending himself. That he felt he had to is shameful. Not on him ... on us.
He took the high road late Saturday night after an official review put 1 second back on the clock and gave U-M a second chance at a Hail Mary. In his own second chance, he took that high road again in his statement Tuesday.
To paraphrase his argument: Not whining when things get tough isn’t soft, it’s wise, and grown up, and for most of our sporting history, achieving that under duress has been fundamental to competition. Eventually – hopefully – someone will have your back.
The Big Ten didn’t, reiteratering that it did the right thing Saturday in its review and determination that there was 1 second, while saying it would have no further comment on the matter. The MAC did.
The NCAA probably can’t, though at least it clarified how games – and clock reviews – should be handled in the future to prevent more injustices in a memo obtained by The Athletic on Tuesday night. The Broncos got squeezed and shafted because of a lack of uniform protocol across the sport.
Now there is precedent, though precedent is only precedent until the next group of judges comes along. Until then, the Broncos deserve credit for how they’ve handled a difficult situation – and for taking the gut punch in service of change.
Good for them that they got some votes in the polls. And good for voters for treating U-M like it lost.
The NCAA may not be able to change Saturday's outcome, but WMU and the MAC can keep changing the perception.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: No, WMU's president isn't weak for reaction to Michigan injustice
