NCAA says Michigan-Western Michigan result cannot be overturned; Big Ten stands by ruling
The Mid-American Conference may believe Western Michigan should have beaten Michigan on Saturday night, but the NCAA says there is no mechanism to turn that belief into a different result.
Hours after the MAC reversed course and challenged the ending of Michigan’s 13-12 win over Western Michigan, the NCAA confirmed Tuesday that neither NCAA rules nor the FBS Oversight Committee provide a way to overturn the outcome of a completed game.
“NCAA rules do not have a protocol for overturning the outcome of a game,” the NCAA said in a statement provided to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “The FBS Oversight Committee also does not have the authority to overturn the outcome of a game.”
The NCAA pointed directly to the football rulebook.
Under Rule 1-1-3-b, “When the referee declares that the game is ended, the score is final.” Rule 5-2-9 also states that a rules decision cannot be changed after the ball is next legally snapped, legally free-kicked, or the second or fourth period has ended.
In other words, Michigan is 1-0. Western Michigan is 0-1. That part is not changing.
The Big Ten isn’t backing down, either.
“The Big Ten stands by the statement released following the conclusion of the Western Michigan at Michigan game and the determination made by the replay officials,” the conference said Tuesday. “We will have no further comment on the matter.”
That response came after the MAC announced Tuesday that it had determined the proper replay protocol was not followed when officials restored one second following Michigan’s first Hail Mary attempt. The MAC said replay officials were required to use the game clock displayed on the program feed, rather than the clock feed embedded in the Big Ten replay system. It has appealed to both the FBS Oversight Committee and College Football Playoff, asking that Western Michigan be treated as the winner for ranking and selection purposes.
There is an important distinction in the clock controversy that has become somewhat lost over the past few days.
The clock shown on the NBC broadcast is not itself the official game clock. The replay video released by the Big Ten showed officials using a direct camera shot of the clock inside Michigan Stadium alongside the play. That clock still showed time when Western Michigan safety Micah Davis, who had established himself out of bounds, touched the football. The Big Ten said its camera feeds had been synchronized before the game.
The NBC television graphic reached 0:00, creating the image millions of viewers saw when the play initially appeared to end the game. Broadcast clocks, however, do not display fractions of a second and can differ slightly from the official stadium clock.
The MAC’s new objection is therefore less about whether the Big Ten found a video showing time remaining and more about whether replay officials were permitted to use that particular clock feed under the established replay protocol.
That is a legitimate procedural question, and apparently one of the two conferences now disagrees on.
What it isn’t, according to the NCAA, is a path toward changing the final score.
Michigan’s 47-yard touchdown from Bryce Underwood to JJ Buchanan remains the final play of a 13-12 Wolverines win, and that is how the game will remain in the record books.
