NCAA Issues Timing Protocol After Michigan's Controversial Win — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- NCAA is issuing new guidance to establish a "standard timing protocol" ensuring consistency across all college football games, per a memo from national coordinator of officials Ron Snodgrass that requires replay officials to use the embedded game clock from the program feed
- Big Ten replay officials added one second back to the clock after Bryce Underwood's Hail Mary was intercepted by Western Michigan safety Micah Davis with the TV broadcast clock at zero, allowing JJ Buchanan to haul in a 47-yard game-winning touchdown on the next play
- MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher requested the NCAA overturn the result and that the College Football Playoff selection committee recognize Western Michigan as the "actual winner," then reversed his earlier public confidence in the process after determining Big Ten replay used the wrong clock feed
- The NCAA told ESPN its football playing rules contain no mechanism to overturn a game outcome and the FBS oversight committee "does not have the authority" to reverse results; under Articles 3 and 9, scores become final when the head referee declares the game over
- Had the new protocol been in place Saturday, Western Michigan would have won 12-7 instead of losing 13-12, denying the defending MAC champions what would have been their first-ever victory over the Wolverines
- Michigan dropped out of the AP Top 25 after the loss and faces No. 11 Oklahoma in Ann Arbor this Saturday; Michigan spokesperson David Ablauf said the Big Ten "handles all replay reviews and discussion" and the university has "no involvement in replay as an institution"
Why it matters: Western Michigan was denied a victory over Michigan because replay officials used the wrong clock feed—costing the Broncos a 12-7 win under the correct protocol. The new NCAA guidance closes that loophole going forward, but the result stands because NCAA rules contain no mechanism to overturn a final score, leaving the defending MAC champions with a documented officiating error and no recourse.
Ask SkimNews
