Michigan football Hail Mary winner questioned as time appeared to run out

Michigan football is 1-0, but not without some major controversy.

After U-M completed a miracle Hail Mary in the final second to defeat Western Michigan, 13-12, on Saturday, Sept. 5, the questions began to rise:

How did that happen? And most importantly, should it have even happened?

In the wake of Bryce Underwood’s heave that was hauled in by JJ Buchanan, the question on everyone’s mind was: Should that have even been possible?

On NBC’s broadcast on Saturday night soon after the stunning finish, rules analyst Terry McCauley said: No.

“Our in-set clock is in-synch, is the actual stadium clock, the ball isn’t even close to touching a player when it goes to zero,” McAauley said. “Now their system, their Hawk-eye system, apparently either had a different synch or whatever and they came up with 1 second when it touched the players. I don’t see how that happened, assuming our clock is correct.

“It is clearly not touching a player, the ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero, on our screens. The Big Ten is going to have to tell a lot of us how did they get to one second on this play?”

You can watch the play and explanation below. Decide for yourself:

Ultimately, No. 16 Michigan won to somehow move to 1-0. Next week, a bigger test awaits − No. 9 Oklahoma at home on Saturday (noon, Fox).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football Hail Mary winner questioned as time appeared to run out