Michigan's Controversial Win: A Deep Dive into the Rules

Michigan got a gift. They did. They got a gift. There's no debating it. They got a gift, but they took advantage of the gift. Here's the thing about life that I often whenever we have these moments and I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm not a Western Michigan fan. I'm on a Michigan fan. I'm not an Ohio State fan who wanted Michigan to lose. I'm on a Michigan fan praying for the start of the Kyle Whittingham era to not get off to a ridiculous. Oh and one mark after being a monster home favorite against a team from the Mac. However, when you look at the call itself as to how one second got put back on the clock for Michigan, you can understand what the referees what the replay folks why they did it. I'll show you some evidence here in a second. You probably have seen it by now just in case but the second play is where my mind goes. Not the first play. The first play was ridiculous and I think there should be a rule change coming from the second play or the first play rather but the second play. Well, that was on Western Michigan. Like you have to stop to Hail Marys. Should you have to have stopped to Hail Marys? No. Okay, I get that. That's the anger the clock hit triple zeros. The game was over Western Michigan thought they won until they didn't. And there is a confusion about the rule and replay and all of that. But at the end of the day, if Western Michigan makes the play at the end of the game, Michigan doesn't win. You had a chance still. The call did not award the game to Michigan. The call simply allowed Michigan the opportunity to win the game, but Western Michigan had the same opportunity and they didn't knock the ball down. They did not stop the second play. Now, how did we get to the second play? Okay, please stop saying it was rigged. Okay, it wasn't rigged. Not everything in sports when it goes against your team or it looks like a bad call is rigged. Okay, how did they get it back? This is how they got it back. Okay, number 18 is out of bounds. He is established as an out-of-bounds player. He then jumps up to try to catch the football when he catches the football. According to NCAA rule 4-3-2-3-a an out-of-bounds player who was established as an out-of-bounds player when that player touches the football. The clock must stop by using replay. The Big Ten officials went and looked at the synced up clocks and they realized that the clock inside the stadium was not synced up properly with the actual game clock. Now, who is keeping the game clock? That's a problem, right? Who are we looking at? Who are we expecting to be the quote official timekeeper? All right, that is a huge question and a huge problem and people are angry about wait a minute. I'm watching a game. I'm watching the clock and you're telling me that that clock is not actually the game clock. That's the problem because they could go back to the official clock and watch the official clock which was not synced up with the game clock which was on TV, which is on the screen, which is in the building which hit triple zeros. But instead the Big Ten goes and takes a look at it and says, okay on the official game clock. It's one second 18 is touching the football. He had established an out-of-bounds position when he jumped thus meaning when he touches the football the rule kicks in and the clock must stop. Do I think that rule should be changed? Yes. Okay, I do. I do think that rule should be changed. I think that rule is not is not good. That's a bad rule and I think people are going to have to take a look at it because if you are out of bounds and you catch a football shouldn't it be when you land not when you touch the ball like if a player catches a football and he lands clock stops. The rule says the clock stops when the player touches the ball. So that's why there was one second left versus zero seconds left and that's where the confusion kicks in. So what if the ball hit him? And then bounce back inbounds. That's a catch right? That would be a catch but it's a good point, right? It's a good point by you that wait a minute. If he touches the ball, why does the clock stop instantly? Why does that happen? So that's the whole conversation about this rule. It's not well known and it's it feels wrong, right? It feels like there's something like there could be a play here where wait a minute if a player establishes himself out of bounds and then he's the first player to touch the football. That's an illegal touch.