Where exactly did that one second come from for Michigan? That question will be asked a lot, especially by Western Michigan fans. And probably Ohio State fans.
Bryce Underwood launched a Hail Mary well out of the end zone as time seemed to expire on the Wolverines to give WMU an improbable upset victory late Saturday night in Ann Arbor.
But no. After a video review, it was determined that a defender touched the ball beyond the back of the end zone with a second left. That gave Michigan one more shot, and Underwood made this one count, connecting with JJ Buchanan for a game-winning touchdown to avert disaster in Kyle Whittingham’s debut as Wolverines coach.
The Big Ten released a statement hours after the game that read: “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. … 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 ruled out.”
NBC rules expert Terry McAulay was stunned by the officials’ decision.
“The ball isn’t even close to touching the player when it goes to zero,” he said. “Now their system, their Hawk-Eye system, apparently either had a different sync or whatever and they came up with one second when it touched the player. I don’t see how that happened, assuming our clock is correct. It is clearly not touching the player; the ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero on our screen. So the Big Ten is going to have to tell a lot of us how did they get to one second on this play.”
A Big Ten crew worked Saturday night’s game, but none of the field officials were made available to reporters afterward.
Underwood, the five-star recruit from the Detroit area who commanded a multimillion-dollar NIL deal to sign with Michigan, had completed only 11 passes before getting a last-second reprieve. Michigan fans looked dumbfounded and despondent at the Big House, watching what looked like the program’s first loss to a MAC team since 2008.
Then came Underwood-to-Buchanan, a 13-12 victory and thousands of Wolverines fans rushing the field as time — finally — expired.
“Obviously, unbelievable last play,” Whittingham said, surrounded by screaming fans on the NBC broadcast. “The defense played well, didn’t allow a touchdown the entire game, and we just hung in there. Fortunately, we had one second left on the clock, Bryce threw a perfect ball, JJ Buchanan made a great catch, and this is one for the history books right here.”
Added Whittingham, “We got in the end zone on the first drive of the game and the last play of the game. Not much in between. Not much good happening, but we’ll get better.”
Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor told reporters that MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher already reached out to the Big Ten about the play. The coach said he had not seen a clip of the second-to-last play year, but that “several people have mentioned it to me that the game was over.”
“I’ll let our commissioner handle it,” Taylor said. “… I thought that this crew tonight did a really nice job handling multiple close calls and review situations. We had several where the spot was questioned and reviewed, and the review went our way.”
Added Taylor, “We can’t control whether there was a second left on the clock or not. We went out the first time, we defended perfectly the Hail Mary situation. I know when I looked up at the clock it was past zeros before we touched it. I knew they’d review it.
Western Michigan President Russ Kavalhuna told reporters that he also had not seen video of the first Hail Mary but received texts telling him it appeared time had expired.
“We’ll try to figure out if the end of the game was anything different from what we saw,” he said. “We’ll talk to our commissioner, and we’ll try to see if there is anything we can ask for a review on. Frankly, I don’t know if we can. I just want everyone to know this football team deserves a second look if that’s possible.”
The “Hawk-Eye system” that McAuley mentioned on the NBC broadcast is likely in reference to the Hawk-Eye Innovations software the Big Ten uses to review plays — a partnership that began in 2024 when the conference opened its new centralized replay center in Rosemont, Ill.
When plays go to the replay protocol in Big Ten stadiums — as Saturday’s final incompletion did in Ann Arbor — the review goes to the centralized replay center, where a “collaborative replay official” and supervisor can communicate with the on-site replay booth official and on-field referee. The supervisor has the final say, according to a 2024 Chicago Tribune article.
The Hawk-Eye system earned headlines when the Big Ten started using it in 2024 because it utilized a standard Xbox controller to navigate the replay software. The NFL partners with Hawk-Eye Innovations as a virtual measurement system to determine the first-down line to gain.
The Big Ten added live audio and video from its replay review command center this season, but only for select Friday games. The ACC gave TV viewers a look inside the video review process last season during its games, and it went over so well that other conferences looked into mimicking it.
Chris Vannini contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.