Full disclosure, I'm not much of a college sports fan. Apart from March Madness, I can count on both hands the total number of college games I've watched over the last twelve months. And for the record, I did not have a rooting interest in this past weekend's Michigan / Western Michigan contest in Ann Arbor. But I can spot a hose job a mile away, and having watched the last nine seconds of that game at least a dozen times, I can say without reservation that Western Michigan got hosed.
Simply put there's no way in hell Michigan should've gotten another shot at a Hail Mary pass. The clock clearly read 0.00. Western Michigan had won 12-7. The players on both teams were walking off the field; even the coaches knew it was over.
That was when one of the officials said that the play was under review. The play in question was a pass from Bryce Underwood that was intercepted by Micah Davis of Western Michigan after time had expired. The consensus by the announcers in the broadcast booth was that this was just a formality; nothing to be concerned about.
However, to everyone's surprise, the review determined that there was one second left in the game. We all know what happened. Underwood threw a 47 yard TD pass to JJ Buchanan. Instead of losing 12-7, Michigan won 13-12.
Forget for a moment that Michigan entered the game a 27 and a half point favorite. Forget also that Western Michigan had no business even being on the same field with Michigan, let alone winning the game. The fact is they were one second away from pulling off the upset of the season; they deserved better than what they got.
The official statement from the Big Ten - released two hours after the game - did little to allay concerns; if anything, it made matters worse. Here is the statement:
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.
There are so many things wrong with this statement, starting with the assertion that there is a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium that was used to determine a final ruling. This direct shot was synched 85 minutes prior to the game. Meaning, according to the Big Ten's own statement, the time we see on the screen is the official game time. If that is the case, where did the extra second come from?
On two separate occasions, we see the clock on the bottom of the screen match precisely what the stadium clock is showing: once at 35 seconds and again at 8 seconds after the ball is snapped on the first Hail Mary attempt. Everything looks copacetic until the ball touches the hands of Davis out of bounds. It is at that point that one second magically appears on the replay clock that the Big Ten is using. No one else has seen this camera angle before; a system the Big Ten refers to as Hawk-Eye Innovations Synchronized Multi-Angle Replay Technology or SMART.
So basically we played an entire game relying on a camera angle of the stadium clock that we were assured was synched prior to the game, only to find out that a mysterious camera angle would have the last word. The fact that this SMART system is utilized by a conference with a stake in the outcome of the game is a clear conflict of interest. You can see where I'm going with this.
Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira said that in the NFL, whenever there is a discrepancy between the scoreboard / TV clock and the clock the replay officials use, the refs are instructed to use the clock the TV viewers are watching so they don't create in the minds of the fans a belief that the process was rigged. I see no problem with that policy. That the NCAA doesn't adhere to it is a huge red flag.
In all the years I've been a sports fan, I've been adamant that the better team always wins. There's one exception to this rule: when the better team gets screwed. Western Michigan got screwed. How do I know this? Did you see that press conference the president and coach of Western Michigan held the day after the game? Take a good look at the coach. I've seen hostage videos that look less intense. How much you wanna bet Western Michigan was warned to toe the line and not make any waves over the loss?
It is moments like this that embolden conspiracy nut jobs who believe that elections are rigged, 9/11 was an inside job, and JFK was assassinated by the CIA. The Big Ten could've just let the original call stand. Win or lose Michigan hardly looked like a national championship team. Prior to the game they were ranked 16th in the AP Top 25 poll. As of this writing, neither the AP nor FCS Coaches poll has them in the top 25. The only people they fooled were the idiotic fans who stormed the field after the game. You'd think Michigan won the Super Bowl, for God's sake.
The right thing to do would be for the Big Ten to reverse their mistake and award Western Michigan the win. I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. There's way too much money involved here, and as Cyndi Lauper once sang, money changes everything.
Look, I realize that bad calls happen all the time in sports. But this was more than just a bad call; it was an embarrassment, made all the worse by the lack of transparency and common decency by those in charge.
The point is, this didn't have to happen. Unfortunately it did.
Postscript:
Within the last hour, Mid-American Conference Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher released a statement regarding the outcome of the game between Michigan and Western Michigan. It reads,
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.
