Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor said "you can't always control" the situations that led to Michigan's controversial last-second win, but acknowledged he believed the game was over before the last second touchdown.
He told reporters postgame he hadn't seen a replay of what transpired, but that MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher had already reached out to Big Ten officiating about what led to a second being added to the clock after it appeared the game ended following a failed Hail Mary attempt.
The officials ruled there was still time left, leading to Bryce Underwood connecting with JJ Buchanan on a 41-yard Hail Mary touchdown for the 13-12 victory.
"At the end of the day, you don't always control those situations, or is there a second left on the clock?" Taylor said. "We talk about a lot about just respond, regardless of what the circumstances are. We can't control whether there's a second left on the clock or not. We went out the first time, we defended perfectly the Hail Mary situation.
"I thought our guys did an excellent job. I know when I looked up at the clock, it was past zeros before we touched it. I knew that they would review it. It was the last play of the game, and because we defended it so well, wasn't worried or concerned about our guys going out and defending it the second time.
Unfortunately, we did not defend it as well the second time."
Taylor complimented the officiating crew, saying they did "a really nice job handling multiple close calls and review situations." Regardless of the controversy, the Broncos coach said Michigan made a great play and it's a strong lesson for his team.
"We can't just box out the back of the end zone. We've got to make sure that we cover them up at the front line as well, so we'll learn from that and grow," he added. "For sure, I'll watch the TV copy."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WMU coach addresses Michigan Hail Mary, says clock 'was past zeros'
