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The clock synchronization failure that upended Michigan's season opener has a formal verdict: Big Ten officials used the wrong reference clock during replay review, the NCAA's FBS Oversight Committee concluded Wednesday night, and had they followed correct instant replay protocols, Western Michigan would have won.
The result cannot be overturned. The mechanism behind the controversy is straightforward.
During review of what became the game's second-to-last play, Big Ten replay officials were monitoring a clock that was not synced with the NBC broadcast feed visible to national television audiences.
That divergence, confirmed by both the network and the Big Ten as a timing synchronization error, meant officials were working from a reference that did not match the broadcast state of the game when they granted Michigan one additional second.
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