Western Michigan was one second away from a huge upset of Michigan on Saturday night. But then officials added one second to the clock, and then Michigan's Bryce Underwood completed a miraculous Hail Mary touchdown to JJ Buchanan. Wolverines fans stormed the field and that was that.
But let's go back to the second that was added back to the clock. Why was that? What was the reasoning? The Big Ten Conference answered that with a lengthy statement to explain it.
“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 statement began. "As shown in the provided video of what was viewed during
the replay process, a side-by-side view of the play and the game clock, using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium, was used to determine the final ruling."
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
There was more about how replay cameras are synced and the rule cited here: "'A ball not in player control, other than a kick that scores a field goal, is out of bounds when it touches the ground, a player, a game official or anything else that is out-of-bound, or that is on or outside a boundary line.’ and thus the clock is stopped.”
In other words: Western Michigan's Micah Davis had started out out of bounds, so when he touched the ball and there was apparently one second on the clock, the play was whistled dead at that point.
College football fans are still skeptical
Your statement claims the clocks are synced in the stadium to what is shown on the broadcast, yet everyone watching the broadcast clearly sees the clock is at 0:00.
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 6, 2026
So, your own statement is contradictory.
"synched"
— MCLV147 (@mclv147) September 6, 2026
The only thing synched was the Big Ten and Michigan ensuring UM got another chance. pic.twitter.com/bRO44wxAQm
Are you blind? Did the clock we are seeing not have the extra space to the right of zero? Did you have access to 0.001 or something? Gaslighting doesn’t look great on you. Accept your L. @UMichFootball is 0-1 pic.twitter.com/quSiGbm2UJ
— Roger Hayes (@RogerHa53628972) September 6, 2026
What a wild night.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why refs added 1 second to Michigan vs. WMU clock before Hail Mary, per Big Ten
