Calls grow to investigate referees after controversial Michigan vs Western Michigan finish
Pat McAfee and college football figures were stunned after Michigan received one final second.
Michigan's extraordinary 13-12 victory over Western Michigan has sparked fierce criticism of the officiating after the Wolverines were given one final second to complete a dramatic comeback.
Western Michigan appeared to have secured a stunning upset at the Big House when Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood's Hail Mary fell incomplete as the clock seemingly reached zero.
But officials reviewed the sequence and restored one second.
That decision gave Michigan another opportunity, and Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown that transformed an apparent defeat into a one-point victory.
The finish immediately left fans and prominent college football voices stunned.
Pat McAfee reacts to controversial Michigan ending
Pat McAfee was among those struggling to believe how the game had ended.
"Feel so bad for those kids," McAfee said while reacting to Western Michigan's defeat.
The decision became the central talking point after the game, with critics questioning how Michigan was awarded another play after Western Michigan believed it had already completed the upset. Fans were even more direct.
"Most rigged game I've ever seen. Never wanna ever see a Michigan fan complain about refs again," one fan wrote.
Another said: "Michigan should be embarrassed. They needed the refs to add time back on. Totally rigged."
A third reaction read: "MICHIGAN RIGGED THE CLOCK! WESTERN MICHIGAN ABSOLUTELY ROBBED!!!"
Calls grow for officials to face scrutiny
Those accusations don't prove the game was fixed, but the controversial ending has prompted calls for the officiating decision to be investigated or at least publicly explained.
The frustration was particularly intense because Western Michigan had been seconds away from one of the biggest wins in program history.
Instead, the Broncos watched that victory disappear after officials determined there was still time remaining.
Michigan needed only one second to change everything.
The Wolverines escaped with a 13-12 win, but the conversation afterward centered less on Buchanan's decisive touchdown than on why the final play was allowed to happen at all.
With McAfee and other college football figures joining fans in expressing disbelief, the decision is unlikely to disappear quietly.
Western Michigan may have officially left Ann Arbor with a defeat, but the controversial final second has ensured questions over the officiating will continue well beyond the final whistle.
