Sports

NBC’s Mistimed Game Clock Adds Even More Confusion To Michigan’s Hail Mary With One Added Second

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Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images — NBC

Michigan defeated Western Michigan on it second attempt at a walk-off Hail Mary despite the clock showing zero. It appears as though NBC did not properly sync the time on the television broadcast to the official time kept by college football officials.

The National Broadcasting Company seemed to be one second ahead during multiple games in Week 1.

This latest college football controversy could really go either way. There are so many different nuances to the clock rules as they are written and the correct decision depends on who you ask. Either way, the Wolverines are likely going to win.

Michigan got one extra second to beat Western Michigan on a Hail Mary.

We all have seen it by now. Western Michigan held a five-point lead over Michigan with nine seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood through up a prayer to the end zone. The pass fell incomplete. Game over.

The clock on the NBC broadcast unquestionably read 0:00. It looked like the Broncos had pulled one of the biggest upsets in recent history as 27.5-point underdogs. They celebrated accordingly. The Big House was stunned.

And then the officials decided to take another look at the clock. A relatively brief review determined that there was actually a few milliseconds remaining when the ball hit the ground in the end zone. Michigan got one final play with one second on the clock.

Underwood ultimately completed a Hail Mary to the end zone and the Wolverines escaped a catastrophic loss. Here is the full sequence of events:

The backlash surrounding this decision has been the talk of college football since Saturday. Rightfully so.

Most people seem to think Western Michigan was robbed of a win and I will not disagree with those people. I don’t know that the officials would’ve reviewed the clock or added a second back to the game if the result was flipped on its head. The MAC is looking to appeal the outcome because “it is evident that replay protocol was not properly followed” but history shows that the conference is unlikely to win the appeal. It is also possible that it wins the appeal and the result stays the same.

And, unfortunately, a frame-by-frame video of the penultimate play proves the Big Ten actually made the correct decision to put one second back on the clock. As does the NBC broadcast of the Apple Cup on Sunday.

Did NBC sync its game clock for college football?

Viewers at home were convinced the game was rigged in Michigan’s favor. The game clock on NBC showed 0:00.

However, the clock might’ve been one second (or a few tenths of a second) ahead throughout the entire game. It appears as though the Big Ten replay clock used the stadium clock in correct time while NBC’s use of the stadium clock was slightly delayed.

That also appeared to be the case on Sunday during the Apple Cup. The NBC clock was one second ahead of the game clock.

John Fanta also referenced that the NBC clock is not the official clock. Time is kept by the officials in the booth.

Even if that is true, and NBC was off by one second throughout most of the Michigan game, the clocks were supposedly synced together before the Hail Mary at 0:09. So maybe the NBC clock was correct. That is the basis of the MAC’s formal appeal. It questions why Big Ten replay officials used the replay system’s clock instead of the required program feed clock on NBC to decide how much time remained. For example:

The MAC’s appeal is in direct contrast to what Connor Stalions thinks.

The whole thing is very confusing. Nobody seems to know the rules. Nobody knows which clock was correct. We will not get a definitive answer until the FBS Oversight Committee makes a final ruling on the appeal.

And even then, even if the officials used improper replay protocols, the final score is likely going to stand. We might as well accept the result as final now.