Good morning, everyone. Coming off the long weekend, college football wasted no time reminding us why the sport can feel glorious, ridiculous and completely ungovernable all at once.
The heavyweights did what heavyweights do. Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Indiana and others rolled through unranked opponents in lopsided Saturday wins, settling into the season the way the biggest programs usually do.
LSU added its own statement, hammering Clemson 51-10 in coach Lane Kiffin’s Death Valley debut. Heading into halftime, Kiffin summed up the mood with a line that fit the moment: “Imagine if we had pro players,” Kiffin quipped heading into halftime.
And then there was Michigan.
No. 16 Michigan came within a hair of a humiliating loss to Western Michigan before the ending turned into the kind of late-night mess that will be replayed for a long time.
On TV, it looked like Bryce Underwood had thrown away the game as time expired. Then Big Ten officials put one second back on the clock, Michigan got one more crack, and Underwood’s desperation heave turned into a 47-yard touchdown to steal the win.
That sequence is already feeding the usual college football suspicion and side-eye. Western Michigan president Russ Kavalhuna addressed the confusion on ESPN on Sunday night, saying, “If you look at what [officials] saw, then you reach the conclusion they reached,” Kavalhuna told ESPN on Sunday night. “However, if you look at what the broadcasters broadcast, you reach a different conclusion.
"I think it would be good to ask ourselves, can we sync those up so that the viewers could see what the officials would be looking at?"
That’s the kind of question that hangs over a finish like this, because the gap between what viewers saw and what the officials ruled is exactly where the credibility debate starts. Whether it was a broadcast issue or just a strange timing discrepancy, the ending was a mess.
But the wild finish shouldn’t completely cover up how shaky Michigan looked. The Wolverines were sloppy, the offense got shoved around, and Underwood faded badly as the game wore on. Coach Kyle Whittingham wasn’t interested in sugarcoating it.
“We were flirting with disaster,” the coach said. “That would have been an epic loss. They’ll talk about this game for years, I’m sure.”
And they will. The drama of the final second may dominate the conversation, but the bigger takeaway is that Michigan did not play like a team worthy of its Top 25 standing.
Tim Capurso predicts the Wolverines will drop to No. 22 in the AP poll, which is set to come out at 2 p.m. ET today.
Elsewhere in the weekend’s chaos, there was at least one image that could warm the soul: Royals fans somehow managed to get a giant inflatable glizzy into the giant inflatable hot dog bun in under 30 seconds.
The Florida humidity, meanwhile, was doing what Florida humidity does.
And the 49ers are already in Australia ahead of their Thursday night game against the Rams, with Kyle Shanahan apparently struggling to make sense of the calendar.
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 🡒]