The Mid-American Conference appealed the outcome of the Michigan-Western Michigan game on Tuesday and asked NCAA and College Football Playoff administrators to recognize the Broncos as the actual winner.
Michigan won 13-12 on a Hail Mary pass after the replay official put one second back on the clock. The stadium clock and the one shown on television showed zeroes after Bryce Underwood’s first Hail Mary was thrown out the back of the end zone.
The Big Ten had said in a statement that time had not expired on a separate clock embedded within its replay system. Western Michigan and the MAC initially accepted the explanation, but that had changed by Tuesday.
“After further study and investigation, it is now evident that replay protocol was not properly followed in determining whether time remained on the game clock at the conclusion of the Western Michigan vs. Michigan football game,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a statement.
Western Michigan originally did not decide to appeal the outcome after president Russ Kavalhuna said Sunday he didn’t “discern anything unfair or untoward” with the Big Ten’s replay decision that put an extra second on the clock.
Kavalhuna added that he spent Saturday night speaking with Big Ten officials, including commissioner Tony Petitti.
“He was gracious enough to let me talk with some of his staff who are over this issue,” Kavalhuna said. “And it is just a discrepancy. What the viewing public see and what the reviewing officials see are different, and that’s clear.”
Messages seeking comment were sent to the NCAA and CFP.
Steinbrecher said the established replay protocol requires that the game clock displayed on the program feed be used in determining whether time remained. Instead, he said, the Big Ten replay crew relied upon the clock feed embedded within its replay system. As a result, one second was placed back on the game clock and an additional play was awarded.
“This was not a judgment regarding the proper amount of time to place on the clock,” Steinbrecher said. “It was an error in the application of the established replay protocol governing this specific end-of-game timing situation. Had the protocol been properly followed and the program-feed clock been used, no additional play would have been awarded, and Western Michigan would have won the game, 12–7.”
The MAC is requesting the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee and the CFP recognize Western Michigan as the actual winner for purposes of their respective rankings, evaluations and selection deliberations.
Michigan was ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll but dropped out of the rankings Tuesday.
The Assocated Press contributed to this report.
