Michigan Sports

NCAA turns away Western’s request for win over U-M

KALAMAZOO (AP) -- After review, the Mid-American Conference wants Western Michigan recognized as having defeated Michigan after all.

The NCAA said the call stands.

Citing what it believes to be an “extraordinary” circumstance in appealing the outcome of the Michigan-Western Michigan game, the MAC asked NCAA and College Football Playoff administrators on Tuesday to recognize the Broncos as the winner instead of the Wolverines. The CFP’s bracket selection choices in December carry significant financial benefits to teams that make the playoff.

A few hours later, the NCAA said the result will stand, noting its playing rules do not have a protocol for overturning the outcome of a game and the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee does not have the authority to do so. According to the NCAA Football Rules Book, the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner and the score is final when the referee declares the game has ended.

“No rule decision may be changed after the ball is next legally snapped, legally free-kicked or the second or fourth periods have ended,” the rule book says.

Michigan won 13-12 on a Hail Mary pass Saturday night after the replay official had put one second back on the clock when Bryce Underwood’s first try was incomplete.

The controversy was the talk of college football on the long holiday weekend with many questions surrounding how the officiating crew decided to give Michigan time for another try at the win. The MAC initially accepted the Big Ten explanation but that had changed by Tuesday.

An NBC replay showed a clock expiring before the ball hit the ground or any player, leading to two days of questions about what clock everyone was looking at. NBC said the next day that its cameras “are not the official arbiter” of game time, that in this case it was the responsibility of the Big Ten.

The Big Ten said after the game -- and reaffirmed Tuesday -- that the call was correct and published a recording of the replay as it was reviewed by officials. The conference said it too used a shot of the game clock in the stadium, which showed 1 second remaining when the ball on the first Michigan pass was touched by WMU’s Micah Davis. Since Davis had just been out of bounds, the clock would stop on such contact.

CFP executive director Rich Clark told CBS Sports it was too early to say how Western Michigan or Michigan will be treated in potential rankings discussions. The first CFP rankings won’t be issued until Nov. 3.

“We would have to bring that to the management committee to give guidance on how that should be considered,” Clark told CBS Sports.

Western Michigan was voted the preseason favorite in the MAC, raising hopes for a potential CFB berth. The highest-ranked team from the Group of Six leagues gets an automatic bid to the playoff.