Michigan won its season opener on Saturday. But it’s the one second that came before the victory that people are still talking about.

NEED TO KNOW

• Michigan beat Western Michigan 13-12 on Sept. 5 after officials restored one second to the clock, giving the Wolverines one final chance to score
• The Big Ten says synchronized replay footage showed Western Michigan’s Micah Davis touched the ball while out of bounds with one second remaining
• Western Michigan president Russ Kavalhuna accepts the ruling but says the replay process could be improved after NBC viewers appeared to see the clock hit zero first

Michigan’s dramatic season-opening win is still generating questions two days later.

The No. 16 Wolverines escaped with a stunning 13-12 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 5, after officials restored one second to the game clock following what initially appeared to be the final play — giving Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood one more chance to throw the game-winning Hail Mary.

Now, Western Michigan’s president says that while he has found no evidence that anything improper happened during the review, he believes the replay process that produced the controversial decision can be improved.

“I don’t think the process is as good as it could be,” university president Russ Kavalhuna told ESPN on Sunday, Sept. 6, pointing to a discrepancy between what television viewers saw during the NBC broadcast and what Big Ten replay officials used to make their ruling. “And that’s because what the viewers see in a pivotal question is different than what the review process shows. Is there a real reason why we can’t have those things equal?”

HAIL MARY MIRACLE!

Michigan wins it on the FINAL PLAY OF THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/rSAyXj9azh

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 6, 2026

The confusion began during the final seconds of Saturday night’s game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

Western Michigan, which entered the matchup as a 27½-point underdog, was leading 12-7 when Underwood launched a desperation Hail Mary toward the end zone as time wound down.

The pass sailed beyond the end zone, where Western Michigan safety Micah Davis made contact with the ball. On NBC’s broadcast, the game clock appeared to reach 0:00 while the ball was still in the air, and Broncos players began spilling onto the field to celebrate what they believed was their first-ever win over Michigan.

Even Underwood thought it was a wrap. “I definitely thought the game was over because there were zeroes on the clock,” the Michigan quarterback said afterward, according to Fox News.

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But officials stopped the celebration and reviewed the play. They ultimately determined that Davis had touched the football while already established out of bounds with one second remaining, meaning the ball became dead at that moment and the clock should have stopped.

That gave Michigan one more chance. And this time, Underwood’s Hail Mary found JJ Buchanan, who came down with the 47-yard touchdown pass as time expired — this time for good — giving Michigan a 13-12 victory.

A statement regarding the results of tonight's game between Michigan and Western Michigan. pic.twitter.com/DzJVN2ZLTc

— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) September 6, 2026

The Big Ten issued a lengthy statement after the game explaining the ruling and exactly how officials reached it. “Following video review, it was determined Western Michigan’s #18 started his jump from an established out-of-bounds position (left foot) and made contact with the ball with one second remaining on the clock,” the conference said.

Under NCAA football rules, a loose ball is considered out of bounds when it touches a player who is already out of bounds, which stops the clock.

The conference also addressed why its ruling appeared to contradict what millions of viewers had just watched.

Replay officials, it said, used a side-by-side view of the play and a direct camera shot of the stadium game clock. The Big Ten noted all cameras used in its replay system, including the camera trained on the clock, had been synchronized using a strobe system 85 minutes before kickoff “to ensure all cameras are aligned.”

But that explanation created another question: Why did the clock viewers saw on NBC appear to show something different from the timing evidence used by replay officials?

NBC said Sunday that its broadcast cameras were not responsible for determining official game time. “Our cameras are not the official arbiter of timekeeping within the game,” the network said in a statement reported by CBS Sports. “That is the Big Ten and game officials’ responsibility.”

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay was among those puzzled by the discrepancy during the broadcast. “The ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero,” he said, according to CBS Sports, adding that the Big Ten’s replay system apparently had a different synchronization than what viewers were seeing.

For Kavalhuna, that distinction is now the central issue. The Western Michigan president said he spoke with Big Ten officials, including commissioner Tony Petitti, following the loss in an effort to understand the decision.

“If you look at what they saw, then you reach the conclusion they reached,” Kavalhuna told ESPN. “However, if you look at what the broadcasters broadcast, you reach a different conclusion.”

Kavalhuna said he would like officials to examine whether those two systems can be better aligned so the public sees the same evidence being reviewed during crucial calls. “I think it would be good to ask ourselves, can we sync those up so that the viewers could see what the officials would be looking at?” he said.

Western Michigan’s own conference also sought answers. Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the Big Ten subsequently provided video and audio of the play that “confirmed the explanation provided to us,” and thanked the conference for its “prompt response.”

The school, meanwhile, will not challenge the result. According to Reuters, Kavalhuna said the school explored whether there was any way to formally appeal the ruling but learned no such process exists.

Still, Kavalhuna has stopped short of suggesting that Michigan received preferential treatment or that replay officials acted improperly. A former federal prosecutor, he told reporters he had examined the circumstances closely and did not “discern anything unfair or untoward in this process.”

Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor has taken a similarly measured approach, resisting calls to blame officials for the loss.

The result will stand, giving Michigan a 1-0 start under new head coach Kyle Whittingham and dropping Western Michigan to 0-9 all-time against the Wolverines.

And Taylor made clear his team isn’t interested in dwelling on what might have been. “Ultimately, the refs did not cost this game,” he said Sunday, CBS Sports reported, “and if we make the mistake of making an excuse, it allows us to be bitter instead of getting better.”

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