With Michigan Thinking About a Wild Saturday Night, Can They Refocus for Oklahoma?

ANN ARBOR, MI — When Saturday’s heavyweight showdown between two of college football’s most storied programs in Michigan and Oklahoma was scheduled way back in 2014, no one could have foreseen the topics everyone would be talking about this week:

In addition to players winning or losing court cases against their conferences and transferring schools after the season has already started, fans nationwide Monday were macro-focused on Michigan’s magical (lucky) escape from the Western Michigan Broncos, as well as replay officials in the Big Ten Conference, and exactly what the heck is wrong with the Wolverines.

Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham, kicking off his inaugural season at the helm of arguably America’s largest college football blue blood, fielded a ton of questions Monday about last Saturday’s opener against WMU during his weekly press conference inside Schembechler Hall.

And he got just a handful of queries about the Sooners coming to town for the first time in history, OU’s dominating 51-point win over UTEP or the frighteningly good Oklahoma defense that looks hungry to prove itself again.

“We’ve got to put this behind us and don't lose sight of the fact you won the game,” Whittingham said. “You did win the game. As frustrated as everybody feels, we have a big challenge this week. … It's in the rear view mirror and everything’s looking towards Oklahoma.”

It was a win — technically. Western Michigan had a 12-7 lead on Saturday night at Michigan Stadium and there were zeroes on the clock — every visible clock in the stadium, at least — but Big Ten Conference officials decided they needed to look at the replay, just to be sure.

WMU’s defense had just batted down a Hail Mary throw in the back of the end zone as time expired, and the visiting team began celebrating the program’s first-ever win over UM (the 2023 FBS national champs, remember), and its first-ever win over a top-25 program.

But when the officials returned from their conclave, they decided to reset the game clock — the one that every person in the stadium, like the coaches and players, uses as a point of reference during the game — to one second.

And while television replays clearly showed the football was still in the air with the clock reading 0:00, Michigan’s replay reprieve resulted in a 47-yard touchdown bomb from Bryce Underwood to J.J. Buchanan — with, of course, no time left.

Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12.

“I definitely thought the game was over because there were zeroes on the clock,” Underwood said Saturday night.

Coaches from both teams, as well as presidents and conference commissioners, stayed above the fray as NBC released what it said was video of the discussion that led to adding one second back on the clock — a super secret clock, apparently, that no one can see or even knows about other than those involved with the replay review process.

“Well, I guess they have this Hawkeye system — and I was unaware of that,” Whittingham said.

It might seem odd that a head coach for 22 years who now makes his home in The Big House and gets paid $8.5 million a year would not know anything about the actual timekeeping method used by the Big Ten.

Or maybe it was all just the latest in a long, colorful line of recent controversies surrounding the Michigan football program.

“As I looked, I knew it was close,” Whittingham said. “Ball sailing back, I glanced up at the clock and it was just ticking to zero inside. And somebody had touched it. I didn't know if they touched it, but apparently it was a defender that had already established out-of-bounds position.

“So I just, you know, I'm assuming they got it right. They looked at it and their technology they have is very advanced, I guess, and I think everyone's fairly satisfied with the explanation. I think Western Michigan came out with a statement today, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna question this any more; they gave us a fairly transparent answer and we move forward.”

As for his team’s performance — Michigan was at home for the season opener and playing as a 27-point favorite over an in-state directional school — Whittingham almost sounds as though he doesn’t know where to start.

Underwood, the former No. 1 overall recruit, began his sophomore year with a mundane performance: 12-of-22 passing, 147 yards, plus 47 yards on the ground — but accounted for the game’s only two touchdowns.

The Wolverines managed just 106 total yards on the ground, just 4.2 yard per carry. They committed nine penalty for 80 yards, they lost three turnovers — two by Underwood — and possessed the football for just under 20 minutes.

Against a team from the MAC.

“I’m not blaming anybody,” Whittingham said, “but I think Western deserves a lot of credit because they did a nice job with their structures on defense. They didn’t do anything different from what we saw on tape last year, so nothing that caught us by surprise.

“I don’t want to negate or downplay Western Michigan because they had a terrific game plan. They played well. They played outstanding. … Played their game plans to the utmost, and so they're a good football team. I would guess they're favorites to win the MAC, and so forth. But still, no excuse for how we played.

“But certainly, one that we'll never forget. It was just as dramatic of an ending as you could have possibly had.”

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