Michigan walked into Saturday’s finish against Western Michigan with a nightmare it didn’t seem to need - and then somehow turned that ending into another college football clock controversy.
The Big House had already reached the point where more than 100,000 fans were bracing for a stunning loss when the clock hit zero and the Wolverines’ final throw fell incomplete. Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor, an Alabama native and Crimson Tide alum, even flashed a ‘W’ and started toward midfield for the handshake line with Kyle Whittingham.
Then came the twist. Big Ten officials said there was still one second left, pointing to a clock only the Big Ten Situation Room could see. Michigan got one last snap, one last Hail Mary, and one last chance to erase the kind of ending that looked finished to everyone watching.
Bryce Underwood took that final shot, and JJ Buchanan made a superb catch near the goal line to win it. Instead of a humiliating upset loss, Michigan escaped with a finish that will be remembered for the clock as much as the play itself.
For Alabama fans, though, the whole thing had to feel painfully familiar.
That one-second ruling instantly dragged memories back to the 2013 Kick Six, when Nick Saban pushed for extra time after TJ Yeldon went out of bounds to set up another Alabama play. SEC officials granted that extra second, and Chris Davis delivered Auburn’s return touchdown anyway.
Former Alabama wide receiver Kevin Norwood, who played in that game and caught a touchdown pass, said he still believes the Tide should have let the clock run out. “If they never gave us that one second, I think we would have won in overtime,” Norwood said.
“We fought for that one second. We should have let that one second go.”
Michigan’s finish also brought up other Alabama flashpoints in the same conversation about time, reviews, and second chances. The source points to the Crimson Tide’s eventual rebound from the Kick Six trauma, including the national title win sealed by Tua Tagovailoa’s walk-off touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith, and later the “Gravedigger” play, when Jalen Milroe hit Isaiah Bond for a 31-yard touchdown on 4th-and-goal before Alabama lost to Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
So while Saturday’s ending reopened an old wound for some fans, it also offered a reminder that these clock controversies tend to live in the moment until the next huge play comes along and buries them under something new.
And in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines got that last play.
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