Mid-American Conference Appeals Michigan win over Western Michigan over replay timing error

Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher announced Tuesday that replay officials handling the Western Michigan-Michigan game failed to follow established protocol when they added a second to the clock at the end of regulation. The conference is formally requesting that the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff recognize Western Michigan as the winner.

Michigan won 13-12 after a 47-yard touchdown pass on the final play, which officials said was possible because a second was restored to the clock following a review of a previous play. While the broadcast feed showed the clock hitting zero, the Big Ten replay center used an internal clock feed that did not display a clock bug, leading to a discrepancy of fractions of a second.

"The established replay protocol requires that the game clock displayed on the program feed be used in determining whether time remained," Steinbrecher said. "Instead, the Big Ten Conference replay crew relied upon the clock feed embedded within its replay system. As a result, one second was placed back on the game clock, and an additional play was awarded."

Western Michigan President Russ Kavalhuna said the post-game explanation pointed to a clock discrepancy and noted there is no formal appeal process for such outcomes. Steinbrecher’s appeal letter acknowledged that the Oversight Committee rarely changes on-field results but argued the circumstances were extraordinary because the error directly affected the final score.

"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," he wrote.

College football replay expert Mike Pereira confirmed that officials are instructed to use angles with a visible game clock to avoid decisions that contradict what viewers see on television.