{"id":885582,"date":"2026-09-06T13:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885582\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:56:12","slug":"michigan-avoids-upset-loss-to-western-michigan-with-controversial-hail-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885582\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan avoids upset loss to Western Michigan with controversial Hail Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 Bryce Underwood watched his pass sail out of bounds, and he thought he knew what that meant for No. 16 Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely thought the game was over because there were zeroes on the clock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So did Western Michigan. So did a lot of people watching.<\/p>\n

Given a second chance by a disputed replay decision, Underwood and the Wolverines took advantage. JJ Buchanan pulled in Underwood’s 47-yard, second-chance miracle heave for a game-ending, game-winning touchdown, and Michigan escaped with a 13-12 win over the Broncos on Saturday night in coach\u00a0Kyle Whittingham\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n

On what seemed to be the final play of the game, Underwood chucked a Hail Mary pass that sailed beyond the end zone and into the arms of a Broncos defender. TV replays appeared to show the clock hitting zero with the ball still in the air, but officials ruled there was a second still to play.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten\u00a0stood by the review<\/a> in a statement released two hours after the game, when it also published a recording of the replay as it was reviewed by the officials that showed the game clock at 1 second when the ball was touched by WMU’s Micah Davis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was determined Western Michigan No. 18 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,\u201d the conference said, citing rule that stops the clock on such contact.<\/p>\n

Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the conference and school contacted the Big Ten office, seeking clarification on the review and was provided with an explanation along with video and audio that confirmed it. Steinbrecher thanked the Big Ten for its prompt response.<\/p>\n

The call gave Michigan new life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were flirting with disaster, and that would\u2019ve been an epic loss,\u201d Whittingham said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Michigan fans were already having flashbacks to a season-opening loss to\u00a0Appalachian State\u00a0in 2007, when the Wolverines faltered as 33-point favourites. They were projected to win by 27 1\/2 points over the Broncos but had to experience momentarily watching WMU celebrate the victory at Michigan Stadium before the replay decision made the winning score possible.<\/p>\n

Michigan fans stormed the field after the win, but the team was hardly in the mood for a party.<\/p>\n

\u201cSick to my stomach is the way I explain my feelings about that game,\u201d defensive end Dom Nichols said.<\/p>\n

Whittingham said he thought there was a second left on the clock, while Broncos coach Lance Taylor said he hadn’t seen a replay before speaking to reporters.<\/p>\n

Underwood took advantage of another chance to win the game, and redeem himself from a poor performance, with Buchanan leaping to snag the football and coming down with it in the end zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe practiced it three or four times over the last month,\u201d said Underwood, who added it was \u201ca blessing\u201d to have another second put back on the clock.<\/p>\n

Whittingham was hired to stabilize a program reeling after the firing and arrest of\u00a0Sherrone Moore, who held the job for just two seasons following Jim Harbaugh’s tenure that included a\u00a02023 national title\u00a0along with a spying scandal and NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations.<\/p>\n

There hasn’t been much drama off the field, but this was hardly an encouraging start on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a moment we don\u2019t really want to be living,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n

Michigan will have to improve quickly to compete next week with\u00a0No. 10 Oklahoma\u00a0at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t play a lot better, it\u2019s not going to be pretty,\u201d Whittingham said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 Bryce Underwood watched his pass sail out of bounds, and he thought he knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-885582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}