KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Outside Waldo's Campus Tavern near the Western Michigan Broncos' stadium, there's a sign.
It reads: 12-7.
FOX 17's Julie Dunmire talked with the Kalamazoo neighbor who made the sign, Waldo's general manager Eric Bowler.
“We had the game won. And then they kind of just snatched it away,” Bowler said when recalling the Broncos' loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.
12-7 was the final score before what's now being considered a controversial call—when one second was put back on the clock, and the Wolverines scored a touchdown with a Hail Mary pass to the end zone.
Ultimately, the game ended with a Michigan win going on the record.
That record is what the Mid-American Conference is hoping to change with an appeal to the NCAA.
The MAC released the following statement on Tuesday:
After further study and investigation, it is now evident that replay protocol was not properly followed in determining whether time remained on the game clock at the conclusion of the Western Michigan vs. Michigan football game.
The established replay protocol requires that the game clock displayed on the program feed be used in determining whether time remained. Instead, the Big Ten Conference replay crew relied upon the clock feed embedded within its replay system. As a result, one second was placed back on the game clock and an additional play was awarded.
This was not a judgment regarding the proper amount of time to place on the clock. It was an error in the application of the established replay protocol governing this specific end-of-game timing situation. Had the protocol been properly followed and the program-feed clock been used, no additional play would have been awarded, and Western Michigan would have won the game, 12–7.
As a result, the Mid-American Conference has submitted formal appeals to the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff. The MAC is requesting that those bodies recognize Western Michigan as the actual winner of the game for purposes of their respective rankings, evaluations and selection deliberations, and take such other corrective action as may be within their authority.
Broncos like Bowler hope the NCAA will see what they all see.
“Hopefully NCAA makes the right call. We obviously won the game,” Bowler said.
The Big 10 has stood by the call made on Saturday that led to the Michigan win.
For WMU fans, this is bigger than football. It's about showing they were never the underdog.
“I think it’s a big deal. Most of the time people think it’s like a joke. That they’re paying us money to play us. But that’s kind of what makes college football special. That a school like Western, that doesn’t have all the money. I think the quarterback's contract at Michigan is more than we have for NIL money for the whole football team, if not the whole school," Bowler said.
