It’s not just football fans who are confused about the clock controversy in Saturday night’s Michigan-Western Michigan game. Media members are also perplexed.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky isn’t sure why one second was added back to the clock, allowing the Wolverines to escape with a 13-12 win on a Hail Mary, a victory Orlovsky called “probably the most embarrassing win I’ve ever seen in college football” during a Monday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
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The Big Ten’s explanation for the ruling was based off a different clock than the one visible in the NBC broadcast view, which showed 0:00 on the clock while Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood’s pass was in the air.
“Following video review, it was determined Western Michigan’s #18 [Micah Davis] 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 Big Ten said. “As shown in the provided video of what was viewed during the replay process, 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,” the league said.
“Eighty-five minutes prior to the game, all broadcast cameras used for the replay system, including the camera on the game clock, are synced using a strobe system to ensure all cameras are aligned.”
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This account doesn’t make sense to Orlovsky.
“How am I as a viewer–I have no skin in the game–supposed to just trust that that clock is synced up with the actual play?” Orlovsky asked Monday. “I’m just supposed to trust it even though the game clock that I’m watching [says 0:00]?”
Orlovsky also mentioned how he can’t see the ball in the reverse angle, while in the typical field view, it “clearly” showed time expired before Davis made contact with the ball.
“I don’t get it,” he added.
After the game, Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor refused to blame officials for his team’s loss, while Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told ESPN he has “confidence in the integrity of the process and integrity of the people involved.”
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However, WMU president Russ Kavalhuna told ESPN he feels the Big Ten could improve its replay process, questioning why the clock that is visible on television is different than the one used by replay officials.
“Is there a real reason why we can’t have those things equal? And if there is, let’s try and fix that. And if there isn’t a real reason why we can’t have those things synced up, then we should sync them up so that everybody who’s watching at home doesn’t start to wonder what happened,” Kavalhuna said.
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