The Western Michigan Broncos suffered a last-minute defeat against the Michigan Wolverines in what could’ve been one of the biggest upsets of Week 1. The Broncos were in the lead until there was one second left in the game, when officials turned back the clock and gave the Wolverines a final throw. The Wolverines scored a touchdown on the play.
With a few seconds left on the clock, Western Michigan was up 12-7, and Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood threw a Hail Mary pass that was incomplete as the clock hit zero. The officials decided to turn back the clock one second, ruling a Broncos defender had touched the ball while out of bounds. The following play ended with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Underwood to JJ Buchanan.
Speaking on Sunday on CNN, Western Michigan President Russ Kavalhuna expressed his misgivings about the process the officials used to review the second-to-last play of the game:
“I’m a former federal prosecutor; I looked in depth… I’m not in love with the process that was applied… The league looking with one set of cameras, and the viewers looking with another…”
A victory by the Broncos would’ve been the first in program history against the Michigan Wolverines.
Kyle Whittingham not happy with Michigan’s season opener
Kyle Whittingham was open about his team’s deficiencies in their season opener against Western Michigan. He said:
“Bottom line is we’re 1-0, but the reality is we have got a lot to fix, a lot of things to address. You know, the things that we didn’t do well: we didn’t play the run well on defense, we didn’t run the ball well on offense, we lost the turnover margin three-zip, we didn’t make enough first downs, and all this is squarely on my shoulders. There’s no doubt about that, and I’ve got to do a better job preparing this football team,” said Kyle Whittingham
The Wolverines were a second away from disaster, but a tougher test lies ahead in Week 2 when they host the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners at Ann Arbor.
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