‘The Game Was Done!’ ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt Goes OFF on Refs Over Controversial Ruling in Michigan Game

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ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt was dumbfounded by Michigan’s wild win over Western Michigan on Saturday, thanks to a controversial ruling.

Western Michigan held a 12-7 lead over the 16th-ranked Wolverines in the final seconds of Saturday night’s game. With nine seconds remaining, Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood snapped the ball and searched for a receiver down-field. As the seconds passed, Underwood realized there wouldn’t be time for another play and simply hurled the ball toward the end zone.

On the broadcast, the clock struck zero as Western Michigan safety Micah Davis touched the ball while out of bounds. At that point, the game was over, and Western Michigan players began to celebrate the stunning upset.

Moments later, however, the referees put one second back on the clock after reviewing the play and determining Davis touched the ball with a single second left.

With that one second, Underwood again threw the ball into the end zone. This time, receiver JJ Buchanan came down with it for the game-winning touchdown as time expired.

Reacting to the game later that night, Van Pelt pointed out the fact that from the broadcast angle, the clock hit all zeros before Davis even touched the ball. Because of this, he continued, there was no reason to add a second.

“The game was done!” Van Pelt said on his podcast SVPod. “You know me, I bend over backwards to say, ‘All credit to [Buchanan] because he made the catch.’ But in this case, I have a really hard time giving all credit to Michigan because I don’t believe that, based on what my eyes saw, that they should have had the opportunity to do what they did. And this synced-up, 0-1 in the low-angle shot of [Davis] jumping — no one saw that unless there’s some place in the dark recesses of the Big 10 headquarters where you saw it, and only you could see it.”

Moments earlier, Van Pelt read out the statement from the Big Ten Conference explaining the decision. In that statement, the Big Ten claimed that “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.”

“Well then, what camera and clock did NBC have on our screen that we all saw hit zeros?” Van Pelt said after reading the statement.

Van Pelt also gave credit to Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor, suggesting he would not have been able to maintain the same level of poise that Taylor did after that kind of ending.

“I couldn’t possibly have more respect for how that man kept his poise and handled his business,” Van Pelt continued, “because I would have begun my press conference by saying, ‘Here’s my Venmo. I’m starting a GoFundMe in advance for the fine I am about to incur because it’s gonna be a f*cking doozy.’

“And by the way, if the thing with the sync that the Big Ten’s saying we did, then get the clock on the screen right so that you don’t have the whole world — outside of everyone in maize and blue — saying, ‘You guys just totally hosed the guys from Kalamazoo!'”

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