Michigan Football Clock Controversy Draws Unfiltered Verdict from Rules Analyst

One of the most controversial endings college football has ever seen is still being talked about days later, with theories flying as to why, and how, and who, and what could have been done differently, and now one of the media’s most well known rules analysts is putting his two cents in with one very notable observation.

Fox rules expert Mike Pereira says that college football replay officials are usually told to use the clock that TV broadcast viewers see when trying to determine if time should or should not be added after what at first appeared to be a game-ending play.

And had Big Ten officials done precisely that, they would have never given Michigan that extra fateful second to pull off a miraculous last-ditch Hail Mary win against Western Michigan on Saturday night, in Pereira’s view.

Veteran Rules Expert Weighs In

“Here’s the key, and here’s where it got lost: The replay officials have been told that if there is a discrepancy, you use the television footage. Do not use your footage in the Command Center. Use the footage that 2 million people are watching, not the one that’s three [people watching],” Pereira told Joel Klatt.

Why was there a clock discrepancy at the end of Michigan-Western Michigan?@joelklatt and FOX Sports Rules Analyst Mike Pereira discuss. pic.twitter.com/7wWWbfOcaG
— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) September 7, 2026

Side With the TV Clock, Refs Are Told

Pereira added that the practice was a basic premise of replay that goes back to the turn of the century, with the idea being that officials should not overturn anything that happens on the field that would look different to what fans were collectively watching live.

To make a consequential decision with information that fans don’t have, like a different clock or alternate view of the same clock, would smack of conspiracy and potentially damage the integrity of the game, or at least the officiating of games.

Not unlike the overwhelming chorus of fans, of Western Michigan or not, who sincerely believe that the Broncos were flat-out robbed in front of a live television audience.

“Take a deep breath. Look at both. If there is a discrepancy, go to the TV and use the television shot. When it’s all said and done, that’s what should have happened, and there shouldn’t have been another play,” Pereira said.

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