The Big Ten issues embarrassing statement about controversial Michigan win

The Big Ten owes Western Michigan a huge apology.

What happened on Saturday night between Western Michigan and Michigan was one of the most embarrassing reffing blunders since the replacement refs were botching calls during the 2012 NFL season. The clock hit zeroes after Bryce Underwood launched a ball out of the back of the end zone on the final play and yet the refs got together and put one second back on the clock.

That one second was all Michigan needed for one final play where Underwood learned from his first mistake and hurled the ball toward the front of the end zone.

Michigan’s JJ Buchanan caught the Hail Mary with no time left and the game was over just minutes after Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor was celebrating a win.

Everyone saw the clock hit zeroes in the synced up game clock on TV with the ball still in the air, but the Big Ten decided to act like we all have no eyeballs. The statement that the conference released, doubling down on the ruling was actually embarrassing.

The Big Ten stated that the call was looked at and confirmed to be correct per an NCAA rule that states the clock stops when a player who was out of bounds (Western Michigan’s No. 18) touches the ball. He had his foot out of bounds before jumping up to touch it in the air. That would make complete sense if there weren’t already angles showing the ball still in the air with the clock at zero.

It makes sense that the Big Ten has to play this off like it was a clean ending and their officials did everything right but that just wasn’t the case. The synced up clock on the TV screen was at zero before the ball had even touched a Western Michigan defender.

The conference should be embarrassed because everyone outside of Ann Arbor believes that the game should have been over before that last Hail Mary.

This is a bad look for the Big Ten

Michigan fans have every right to be happy with the result and if any of us were in their shoes, we would all be celebrating and breathing multiple huge sighs of relief. Losing to Western Michigan is something that the Wolverines never would’ve been able to live down.

As it stands, though, the Big Ten looks like it’s just trying to protect the golden child. The entire final second being added onto the clock was bad enough, but the doubling down is an even worse look.

The explanation of what happened to earn that extra second just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to anyone who watched the game and all the replays of the Western Michigan defender touching the ball after the clock hit zero. It’s a bad look for the conference, but this is par for the course.

Western Michigan outplayed Michigan for 60 minutes on Saturday night and secured a win when the clock hit zero and yet the Broncos still came away with a loss.

Unreal.

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