In response to the recent backlash from the University of Michigan versus Western Michigan University football game last Saturday, the NCAA said it is implementing new guidelines to verify that all college football games will have a standard timing protocol.
In the memo, which was obtained by The Athletic reporters, said, "The official time for all college football games is the time displayed on the in-stadium game clock. When a replay review requires time to be restored or otherwise adjusted, the replay official's decision will be based on the embedded game clock contained within the program feed. If the broadcaster is unable to provide an embedded game clock, the replay official will use the game-clock graphic displayed as part of the broadcast feed. This timing protocol should be followed consistently at all institutions and game sites.”
Had this new policy been in place Saturday, based on the clock shown on the NBC broadcast, U of M wouldn’t have received additional play time, changing the outcome of the game and allowing the Broncos to win 12-7. Instead, with the addition of a second to the clock after time appeared to have expired, the Wolverines were able to complete a Hail Mary pass, giving them a 13-12 edge.
The Athletic reporter Austin Meek joined Stateside's April Baer to discuss the NCAA's new procedure.
"What this memo was clarifying is, what the [Mid-American Conference] said in its letter, is that the the protocol is actually to use what people have access to on TV, even if you have access to something more precise, because not everybody has access to that," Meek said.
"A lot of other conferences don't have access to this technology that the Big Ten has that allows them to get extremely precise and granular on that replay. And so for uniformity, I think this this memo was clarifying, 'let's use the technology that everybody has access to.' So the protocol is the same in all cases. And it's not different depending on what technology you have access to."
On the televised play, the ball was still in the air when the clock reached zero on the countdown. The extra second on the clock prevented WMU's upset win over U of M in what would have been, historically, their only victory against the university.
Two hours after the game, the Big Ten explained in a statement, which read: "It was determined [Western Michigan University defender Micah Davis] started his jump from an established out-of-bounds position and made contact with the ball with one second remaining on the clock. A side-by-side view of the play and the game clock, using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium, was used to determine the final ruling."
Mid-American Conference Commissioner John A. Steinbrecher inquired Tuesday about the NCAA overturning the result, stating that the College Football Playoff selection committee should announce the Broncos as the "actual winner” in “its evaluation and deliberations.”
"I recognize that the Oversight Committee does not ordinarily alter results recorded on the field," Steinbrecher wrote in a letter to the NCAA. "Nevertheless, the circumstances of this game are extraordinary. The final outcome was directly affected by a replay officiating error resulting from the failure to follow an established and specific protocol governing precisely this type of end-of-half timing situation."
But the NCAA said that its football playing rules do not include a mechanism to overturn the outcome of a game. Also, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) oversight committee "does not have the authority" to reverse an outcome.
In the same email, the NCAA contends that it has no obligation to alter the official score or give Western the victory.
Meek said the NCAA has an obligation to viewers, though. “I do think that the public perception matters," Meek said. “And I think that there's no doubt that the public perception is very much on Western Michigan's side. Michigan may have won the game, but Western Michigan clearly won the battle of perception.”
He said while it's unlikely that the ruling gets overturned, WMU might get special consideration when it comes time for bowl games.
Meek said that the College Football Playoff Selection Committee may decide, for example, "We're going to give Western Michigan credit for that, or at least we're not going to penalize them for losing this game, when when we all saw that for all intents and purposes, they did win."
As for a lawsuit, Meeks says he doesn't think one will be filed.
U of M next faces Oklahoma this Saturday at home, while Western Michigan plays Monmouth in its home opener. You can see more Michigan collegiate football schedules here.
