ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan escaped Saturday night with a 13-12 win over Western Michigan, but the feeling around the stadium was a long way from relief. It took a controversial extra second, a 47-yard Hail Mary and a spectacular catch by JJ Buchanan for the Wolverines to turn what looked like a loss into a miracle finish.
For almost the entire night, Michigan looked like the team headed for a damaging defeat. The Wolverines never found a rhythm after their opening touchdown drive, and Western Michigan spent most of the game looking like the better team. When Bryce Underwood launched his first Hail Mary attempt into the back of the end zone and it sailed out of bounds, it appeared to be over.
Then came the review.
Replays on the NBC broadcast made it seem as if time had expired before a Western Michigan defender touched Underwood’s first desperation throw. But early Sunday, the Big Ten released footage of the officials’ replay decision that showed a second still on the stadium clock when the defender touched the ball. Underwood had one more chance, and he made it count.
“When I see zeroes on the clock, I feel like we lost the game,” Underwood said. “That’s what it was.
Then we had one second. The thought was, ‘Give my guys an opportunity,’ and that’s what I did.”
Underwood’s second heave found Buchanan, Michigan’s best jump-ball receiver, who made the grab that sent the Wolverines into celebration mode and left Western Michigan stunned. The play gave Michigan the win, but it did not erase how the game had gone for the previous 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
Michigan struggled on both sides of the ball. The offense couldn’t stay on the field, the defense couldn’t get off it, and Underwood looked shaky despite the offseason buzz about his improvement. His night featured some of the same issues that showed up last season: forcing throws into tight windows, trying to make off-balance passes and missing on accuracy.
That made the finish feel even stranger. Michigan fans poured onto the field and treated it like a rescue, while the players seemed eager to move on.
“That wasn’t a moment we really wanted to be living in, to be honest,” defensive end Dominic Nichols said. “It’s Western Michigan.”
The win matters in the standings, but the way it happened will hang over Michigan for a while. Losing to Western Michigan would have carried real weight, especially for Kyle Whittingham in his first season.
Michigan was 37-1 against MAC schools before Saturday, with the only loss coming against Toledo in 2008, Rich Rodriguez’s first season. That kind of damage was avoided here, but only barely.
Whittingham did not hide his frustration after the game, especially with the offense. He said Michigan needed more downfield shots and was critical of a play late in the first half that nearly turned into a pick six.
“We just didn’t make a good call there,” Whittingham said. “That call made no sense. We should never have been in that situation.”
He also insisted the preseason talk about Underwood’s progress was real, even if it didn’t show up against Western Michigan. Jason Beck, Michigan’s new offensive coordinator, was brought in to help fix Underwood, and that work is clearly not finished.
That’s what makes the final throw so important. It didn’t solve Michigan’s problems, but it did prevent a loss that would have defined the program heading into next week’s game against No.
10 Oklahoma. Whittingham was blunt about what comes next.
“We have a ton of work to do,” Whittingham said. “The degree of difficulty next week goes way up. If we don’t play a lot better, it’s not going to be pretty.”
Oklahoma’s visit to Michigan Stadium was supposed to be one of the early-season showcase games. After what Michigan put on the field Saturday, it now looks like a brutal test. If the Wolverines don’t clean things up fast, this escape over Western Michigan will feel less like a turning point and more like borrowed time.
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Michigans narrow 13-12 win over Western Michigan did not offer much room for comfort, but it did give the defense a fresh name to watch. Dominic Nichols flashed in a way that stood out even in a game defined by tight margins, piling up nine tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks while emerging as the highest graded defender on the team, according to Pro Football Focus.
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The early returns were encouraging for Michigan, with some recruits leaving with offers in hand and others talking up the atmosphere, the coaching staff and the facilities. For a program that has made game-day visits part of its recruiting pitch, the opener gave the Wolverines a chance to sell the full experience, and it sounds like the staff made the kind of impression that can matter as these decisions start to narrow. [Read more 🡒]