The Wolverines had 276 yards on 48 plays, but committed nine penalties and were just 3-of-10 on third downs.

Had the clock actually expired on the incomplete pass, the first game of coach Kyle Whittingham’s tenure would have been an unmitigated disaster. The former Utah coach hired to clean up the mess left behind by the fired Sherrone Moore has a lot to go through when he watches film with his coaching staff.

Instead, Michigan is, somehow, 1-0.

No. 16 Michigan avoided an upset loss to Western Michigan on Saturday night with a lot of help from instant replay.

Bryce Underwood hit JJ Buchanan for an incredible 47-yard Hail Mary as time expired for a 13-12 win. The pass came after the ball was snapped with one second left after Underwood’s previous Hail Mary appeared to fall incomplete with no time remaining.

After a short review, a second was added back to the clock. And then Buchanan made the catch.

Hours after the game ended, the Big Ten issued a statement saying that the game clock showed there was still 0:01 remaining when Micah Davis touched the ball and provided a video of Davis synced up to the game clock as proof.

Following video review, it was determined Western Michigan’s No. 18 started his jump from an established out-of-bounds position (left foot) and made contact with the ball with one second remaining on the clock,” the statement said. “As shown in the provided video of what was viewed during the replay process, a side-by-side view of the play and the game clock, using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium, was used to determine the final ruling.

“Eighty-five minutes prior to the game, all broadcast cameras used for the replay system, including the camera on the game clock, are synced using a strobe system to ensure all cameras are aligned.

“Per NCAA Football rule 4-2-3-a: ‘A ball not in player control, other than. Kick that scores a field goal, is out of bounds when it touches the ground, a player, a game official or anything else that is out-of-bound, or that is on or outside a boundary line,’ and thus the clock is stopped.”

A screenshot from the video the Big Ten provided to back up its assertion there was a second remaining

After the Big Ten released it statement, MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said that his conference also reviewed the footage and agreed with the explanation.

In the immediate aftermath of the play, NBC’s numerous replays of the first Hail Mary showed that the ball was not close to touching Davis until the clock showed 0:00. Rules analyst and former referee Terry McAuley was unable to come up with a concrete explanation for why a second was added to the clock.

The clock on the bottom left shows 0:00. The ball is circled in red.

“The ball isn’t even close to touching the player when it goes to zero,” McAuley said after he told viewers that he was informed that the clock on the bottom left of the screen was the stadium clock and in sync with the replay. “Now their Hawk Eye system apparently either was — had a different sync or whatever and they came up with one second when it touched the players. I don’t see how that happened assuming our clock is correct. It is clearly not touching the player. It is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero on our screen. So the Big Ten’s going to have to tell a lot of us how did they get to one second on this play.”

Here’s how the first Hail Mary looked in real time.

The second-chance Hail Mary was Buchanan’s second massive catch of the final drive. He was responsible for all 75 yards on the drive as he caught a 28-yard pass on third down to get Michigan across midfield and put the Wolverines in position to go for the end zone.

Michigan got the ball back for its final drive with 35 seconds to go after Western Michigan kicked a field goal to go up five points. The Broncos’ fourth field goal of the game came after Underwood fumbled while trying to scramble for a first down with 1:40 to go.

That turnover was Michigan’s third of the game and Underwood’s second. He had a rough game and had just 95 passing yards before the final drive.

Western Michigan’s offensive stats weren’t pretty either, but they controlled the clock. The Broncos had just 221 total yards on 67 plays but held onto the ball for just over 40 minutes. WMU was 8-of-18 on third downs and had 16 first downs to Michigan’s 12.

The Wolverines had 276 yards on 48 plays, but committed nine penalties and were just 3-of-10 on third downs.

Had the clock actually expired on the incomplete pass, the first game of coach Kyle Whittingham’s tenure would have been an unmitigated disaster. The former Utah coach hired to clean up the mess left behind by the fired Sherrone Moore has a lot to go through when he watches film with his coaching staff.

Instead, Michigan is, somehow, 1-0.

Nick Bromberg, Yahoo