All Things SkunkBear

ulukinatme

Carr for QB 2026!
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Yellow is a great color to wear when you're pissing down your leg against Oklahoma.

 

SportsingHard

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My understanding is the MAC is citing an alleged unwritten rule that was not universally known or agreed upon. Hence their delay in protesting. If it had actually been well-known and agreed upon, they would've been on top of it.

As to the NCAA, they are effectively creating a new rule/protocol, not citing an old one. This is a Bush Push situation. The obvious underlying rationale is that even when the televised clock is the least accurate info available, sticking with it will prevent tens of millions of people getting their panties twisted.
 
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ulukinatme

Carr for QB 2026!
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:laugh:

That Underwood line is gold

HRuMNZ1WcAE3OgZ
 

greyhammer90

the drunk piano player
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Basically what I've surmised is:

NBC screwed up by not synchronizing the TV clock with the stadium clock. It does appear based on multiple videos within the stadium that the WMU player touched the ball with 1 second left on the clock inside the stadium. NBC's televised clock appears to be at least a half second fast. If NBC has its clock synched correctly, Michigan has the one second and this is just an unfortunate escape for Michigan without much controversy.

The replay booth refs screwed up by choosing to look at any clock that wasn't the televised clock. By rule in these situations, the televised clock is the only clock that matters. The fact that NBC's clock was wrong doesn't matter. That's supppsed to be considered a "tough titties" moment for Michigan. By rule, they should've lost. It does feel like we're playing lawyer ball at this point, but I'm happy to do so at Michigan's expense.

WMU screwed up by letting Michigan complete a stupid Hail Mary. Feel for those kids, but c'mon boys, don't let that happen.

Michigan screwed up by being predictably Michigan about the entire thing. They rushed the field, smugly tweeted "W", and did a whole bunch of cringey shit that would be embarassing for any school that wasn't so mired in delinquent behavior that this hardly even registers.
 

Bane

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Basically what I've surmised is:

NBC screwed up by not synchronizing the TV clock with the stadium clock. It does appear based on multiple videos within the stadium that the WMU player touched the ball with 1 second left on the clock inside the stadium. NBC's televised clock appears to be at least a half second fast. If NBC has its clock synched correctly, Michigan has the one second and this is just an unfortunate escape for Michigan without much controversy.

The replay booth refs screwed up by choosing to look at any clock that wasn't the televised clock. By rule in these situations, the televised clock is the only clock that matters. The fact that NBC's clock was wrong doesn't matter. That's supppsed to be considered a "tough titties" moment for Michigan. By rule, they should've lost. It does feel like we're playing lawyer ball at this point, but I'm happy to do so at Michigan's expense.

WMU screwed up by letting Michigan complete a stupid Hail Mary. Feel for those kids, but c'mon boys, don't let that happen.

Michigan screwed up by being predictably Michigan about the entire thing. They rushed the field, smugly tweeted "W", and did a whole bunch of cringey shit that would be embarassing for any school that wasn't so mired in delinquent behavior that this hardly even registers.
I just have the damnedest time believing that the NCAA wouldn't find a way to overturn the results if Michigan had been screwed.
 

greyhammer90

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I just have the damnedest time believing that the NCAA wouldn't find a way to overturn the results if Michigan had been screwed.

Yeah that seems like complete bullshit to me. They change the record books all the time. I get that they dont want to open this can of worms but I would like to hear how the NCAA is capable of vacating wins and championships but also cannot change the outcome of games.
 

SportsingHard

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The UM-WMU controversy is wildly complex and involves many parties, but it seems the most guilty are:
1) The NCAA
2) College Football Officiating (umbrella organization)
3) NBC
4) Wildly prejudiced CFB fans (and journalists) on social media who desperately want to justify any directional school’s defeat of Goliath.

Some apparent facts:

The NCAA itself had zero relevant protocol prior to the game. It made ‘rules’ and allowed unrelated officiating groups to work out ‘protocol.’

Somewhere in the distinct officiating industry there existed one or more unnamed high-ranking officials who had a relevant protocol in mind prior to the game. However, this mental protocol was never documented and was never effectively communicated through the dizzyingly complex network of officials.

NBC very clearly displayed the wrong time. If game officials had used NBC’s clock (as the uncommunicated mystery protocol said they should have), NBC, the COF, and the NCAA would have ended the game prematurely after 59:59 of gameplay, and Michigan would’ve been screwed out of one last opportunity to score.

Of the three clocks involved:

The game clock was official, accurate, and unimportant.

The ref feed of the game clock was unofficial, accurate, and unimportant.

The NBC feed of the game clock was unofficial, inaccurate, and all-important by belated NCAA decree. (The NCAA has since decided that it wants games decided by whatever viewers see, rather than what coaches, players, and refs see, no matter how inaccurate, unfair, unethical, or unofficial.)

Some groups responsible for the education, development, supervision, administration, or training of Big Ten officials, in theory or in practice, include the NCAA, the CFO, the Collegiate Officiating Consortium, RefQuest Plus, the Big Ten, and the Upper Midwest Officials Association. Obviously, not all these parties were on the same page and no relevant documentation existed, largely because nothing quite like this has ever happened before.

NCAA communication since the game has arguably been worse than their communication prior to the game, as they’ve been obscuring 1) their own fault, 2) the fact that 'the protocol' was not documented, not effectively communicated, and not their own, 3) NBC’s fault, and 4) that they’re opting against fairness and accuracy going forward.

As to the game itself:

If you’re in favor of fairness (i.e. 60:00 of gameplay, no more, no less, and a clock coaches and players can see), Michigan was indeed the rightful winner.

If you’re in favor of the uncommunicated mystery protocol that existed in some heads prior to the game and that the NCAA has since endorsed, Western Michigan was the rightful winner.

What’s most important to me is fairness going forward, and the NCAA is emphatically against it. Their goal is to minimize social media outrage, but that’s only going to backfire in the long run when people realize TV networks and their employees are deciding games, however accidentally or deliberately.
 
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Notre Dame Joe

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Basically what I've surmised is:

NBC screwed up by not synchronizing the TV clock with the stadium clock. It does appear based on multiple videos within the stadium that the WMU player touched the ball with 1 second left on the clock inside the stadium. NBC's televised clock appears to be at least a half second fast. If NBC has its clock synched correctly, Michigan has the one second and this is just an unfortunate escape for Michigan without much controversy.

The replay booth refs screwed up by choosing to look at any clock that wasn't the televised clock. By rule in these situations, the televised clock is the only clock that matters. The fact that NBC's clock was wrong doesn't matter. That's supppsed to be considered a "tough titties" moment for Michigan. By rule, they should've lost. It does feel like we're playing lawyer ball at this point, but I'm happy to do so at Michigan's expense.

WMU screwed up by letting Michigan complete a stupid Hail Mary. Feel for those kids, but c'mon boys, don't let that happen.

Michigan screwed up by being predictably Michigan about the entire thing. They rushed the field, smugly tweeted "W", and did a whole bunch of cringey shit that would be embarassing for any school that wasn't so mired in delinquent behavior that this hardly even registers.
I don't know where you got the idea that the stadium clock =/= game clock =/= clock on tv. Everyone knew that there 9 seconds left when that play started.

The NCAA said "When a replay review requires time to be restored or otherwise adjusted, the replay official’s decision will be based on the embedded game clock contained within the program feed. If the broadcaster is unable to provide an embedded game clock, the replay official will use the game-clock graphic displayed as part of the broadcast feed. "

IF they mean what they say then after it has been determined that the clock has to be adjusted the correct time is one of those two clocks.

As is the real time is kept by the official timekeeper. He can only be overturned with indisputable video evidence (meaning all the clock agreed).
 
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