Michigan wide receiver JJ Buchanan (6) catches for a touchdown against Western Michigan to win the game 13-12 as time expires during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. Credit: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

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Michigan’s win over Western Michigan ended once already Saturday night.

Bryce Underwood’s Hail Mary sailed toward the end zone and fell incomplete, the clock reading triple zeros, and Western Michigan had pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the young season, a 29.5-point underdog toppling the Wolverines in the Big House. Then, in the space of a single review, the upset win was taken out from underneath the Broncos. Officials put one second back on the clock, Underwood got a second heave, JJ Buchanan hauled it in through a crowd of defenders, and Michigan escaped 13-12.

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay said on air that his own game clock, which he’d been told was synced directly to the stadium’s, showed the ball still airborne at the exact instant it struck zero. He could offer no formal explanation for how the Big Ten’s own replay system arrived at a different number, and for the rest of the night, neither could anyone else in college football media.

That was until the Big Ten released a formal statement alongside an accompanying video just before 1 a.m. ET on Sunday morning.

The explanation walks through exactly where Western Michigan’s No. 18 had planted his foot when he made contact with the ball, details the strobe-based syncing process that’s supposed to keep every replay camera, including the one trained on the game clock, perfectly aligned, and cites the specific NCAA rule governing when a loose ball is ruled out of bounds.

“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. 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.

“Eighty-five minutes prior to the game, all broadcast cameras used for the replay system, including the camera on the game clock, are synced using a strobe system to ensure all cameras are aligned.

“Per NCAA Football rule 4-2-3-a, ‘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.”

The Big Ten announced just a few days prior that it would start giving networks live audio and video access to its replay center, following the ACC’s lead from last season and the Big 12’s own rollout this year, but that program only covers a handful of preselected Friday games, and Michigan-WMU wasn’t one of them.

So, sure, credit the conference for its newfound commitment to transparency. But we’re still left grappling with the question transparency was ostensibly designed to answer: why was NBC’s broadcast clock apparently desynchronized from the actual game clock that officials inside the Big Ten’s replay center relied on, according to the very video the conference distributed?

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann