09/08/26 04:10:00
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09/08 16:08 CDT MAC appeals Michigan-Western Michigan result, asks NCAA and CFP
to recognize Broncos as winner
MAC appeals Michigan-Western Michigan result, asks NCAA and CFP to recognize
Broncos as winner
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) --- After review, the Mid-American Conference wants
Western Michigan recognized as having defeated Michigan after all.
Citing what it believes to be an "extraordinary" circumstance, the MAC 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. The CFP is a particularly notable request since its bracket selection
choices in December carry significant financial benefits to teams that make the
playoff.
Michigan won 13-12 on a Hail Mary pass Saturday night. The replay official had
put one second back on the clock after Bryce Underwood's first Hail Mary try
was incomplete.
An NBC replay showed a clock expiring before the ball hit the ground or any
player, and Terry McCaulay --- the rules analyst on the broadcast --- said that
was a synced version of the stadium clock.
Later, the Big Ten said the call was correct and published a recording of the
replay as it was reviewed by officials. The conference said it too used a shot
of the game clock in the stadium, which showed 1 second remaining when the ball
was touched by a player, WMU's Micah Davis. Since Davis had just been out of
bounds, the clock would stop on such contact.
In his letter to the FBS Oversight Committee, MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher
said "established protocol" in this situation is that the television truck is
contacted with a request to insert the in-stadium game clock onto "the program
feed" --- and that is supposed be the sole source of the replay decision.
"Had the prescribed protocol been followed and the program-feed clock been
used, no additional time would have been restored, no additional play would
have been awarded, and Western Michigan would have won the game 12--7,"
Steinbrecher wrote.
The controversy was the talk of college football on the long holiday weekend
with many questions surrounding how the officiating crew decided to put the
second back on the clock and give Michigan one more try at the win. 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,"
Steinbrecher said.
Michigan spokesman David Ablauf had no comment on the appeal other than, "The
Big Ten handles all replay reviews and discussion. We don't have any
involvement in replay as an institution."
Messages seeking comment were sent to the NCAA, CFP and Big Ten. Game results
are rarely, if ever, changed after the fact unless the NCAA throws out or
vacates results because of rules infractions, though there are countless
examples of questionable decisions by officiating crews affecting the outcome
(Colorado beating Missouri on a fifth down in 1990 is familiar to many).
Western Michigan was voted as the preseason favorite in the MAC, and that would
suggest that the possibility certainly exists for it to factor into the CFP
rankings. The highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC,
Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt gets an automatic bid into the playoff.
Michigan was ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll but dropped out of
the rankings Tuesday.
"I recognize that the oversight committee does not ordinarily alter results
recorded on the field," Steinbrecher said. "Nevertheless, the circumstances of
this game are extraordinary. ... Western Michigan should not be disadvantaged
because the prescribed replay protocol was not followed and an unsynchronized
clock was used to award a play that, under the applicable procedure, should not
have occurred."
___
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