Dave Portnoy tried to put Oregon and Michigan in the same bucket after a messy opening week for both programs, but the comparison runs into a pretty obvious problem: the opponents were not the same, and the finishes were not the same either.
No. 2 Oregon survived Boise State 10-0 in the fourth quarter at Autzen Stadium to escape with the win, while No.
16 Michigan needed a stunning and controversial ending to get past Western Michigan in Lansing. The Wolverines won 13-12 after the officials added one second back to the clock, which gave Michigan just enough time to launch a wild Hail Mary that was completed.
That final sequence lit up social media, where plenty of people argued Western Michigan had been robbed and even questioned whether the NCAA should look into the officiating decision. It was the kind of ending that can swallow the whole conversation around a game.
Portnoy, though, wasn’t buying the idea that Michigan’s escape should draw more heat than Oregon’s close call. The Barstool Sports president and Michigan alumnus argued that Oregon’s narrow win over Boise State deserved the same kind of scrutiny, if not more.
The problem with that take is that Boise State and Western Michigan are not operating on the same plane. Boise State has been one of the strongest Group of Five programs in the country for years, a team that is regularly ranked in the Top 25 and has stayed in the mix for conference titles and College Football Playoff discussion. Western Michigan, meanwhile, came to Ann Arbor as a MAC team and a 28-point underdog.
That gap matters. There’s a real difference between stumbling against Boise State and barely surviving a four-touchdown underdog by needing a last-second Hail Mary.
None of that means Oregon should get a free pass. DraftKings had the Ducks as 24.5-point favorites, and for a team carrying national championship expectations, struggling that much against Boise State was always going to bring criticism. It was a bad look for the No. 2 team in the country, and Dan Lanning’s group has plenty to clean up before conference play.
And Oregon did get blasted. The notion that “nobody cares” about the Ducks’ performance doesn’t hold up.
National voices came after Oregon quickly, with FOX Sports lead analyst Joel Klatt questioning Oregon’s toughness and readiness to contend for championships after the sluggish opener. Josh Pate of CBS Sports’ Late Kick with Josh Pate was even more direct, saying Oregon looked completely detached from the standard of a national championship contender.
What separates the two games, though, is simple. Oregon won on the field. The Ducks were pushed, they were sloppy, and they looked vulnerable for long stretches, but they still finished the job without needing a disputed officiating call to create another chance.
Michigan’s win is the one that still leaves people debating whether the Wolverines should have had that final possession at all. The officials put one second back on the clock, Michigan threw the Hail Mary, and the 13-12 victory followed. For many, that looked like the game being handed back to Michigan after it had already been lost.
So while both top-16 teams had rough openers against underdogs, the details matter. Oregon’s win over Boise State was ugly.
Michigan’s win over Western Michigan was ugly and controversial. That’s a big difference.
In Other News...
Michigans Opener Already Sparked A Response Fans Will Notice Against Oklahoma
Rod Moore did not sugarcoat Michigans season-opening showing against Western Michigan, calling it well below the standard the Wolverines expect. The reaction inside the program was immediate, too, with team captains calling an emergency player-only meeting to address what went wrong and to reset the tone before the schedule tightens up.
The response showed up on the practice field, where the defense ramped up its physical intensity in preparation for Oklahoma. Edge defender Dom Nichols also drew attention for both his strong play and his work ethic, a reminder that Michigan is trying to turn a flat opener into a sharper, more urgent version of itself before a much bigger test arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Win Is Now At Center Of A Stunning Official Fight
The final sequence of Michigans 13-12 win over Western Michigan has turned into more than a narrow nonconference finish. A reviewed Hail Mary added one second back onto the clock, and that extra snap led to the game-winning catch that kept the Wolverines on top. The Big Ten later backed the decision after its own video review, treating the ending as a properly administered piece of officiating in a game that was already tense enough on the field.
Now the dispute has moved from the scoreboard to the offices that govern the sport. The Mid-American Conference has formally appealed to the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff, asking them to recognize Western Michigan as the winner. For Michigan, the result stands for now, but the unusual fight over a single second has made this one of the more talked-about finishes of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Win Sparked A Debate Fans Should Care About
Michigans disputed 13-12 win over Western Michigan did more than send people scrambling through the rule book. It also reignited a familiar gripe about how college football handles the last moments of a close game, with ESPNs Rece Davis arguing that fans would be better served by a single shared game clock and by live access to replay officials conversations so the process feels less opaque.
The sequence at the end of the game made the frustration easy to understand: the broadcast clock hit zero, but replay officials restored one second after using a synchronized system, and Michigan turned that final snap into the touchdown that decided it. Officials and conference representatives backed up the replay process, and Western Michigan president Richard N. Yensen acknowledged the clocks did not match while saying he did not view the outcome as unfair, but the larger transparency debate is unlikely to fade soon. [Read more 🡒]