The MAC took its case over the Big Ten's head, and the NCAA's FBS Oversight Committee just told the Broncos what they already knew.
The good news? Taking their fight public was worth it, they should have won the game.
But the bad news? There is no way to reverse a final result, and therefore the Broncos will not get the win in a more formal, and meaningful matter.
The committee found that instant replay protocols were not followed on the second-to-last play of Michigan's 13-12 win over Western Michigan on Sept. 5. In its statement, the committee said it consulted with national officiating leadership, agreed the protocols were not followed on that play, and that "had the protocols been followed, the outcome of the game would have been different."
That is as clean an admission as the Lance Taylor, his Western Michigan Broncos, and the MAC are ever going to get. Western Michigan led 12-7 on four field goals and looked to have the upset when Bryce Underwood's first heave fell incomplete with zeros showing. The Big Ten replay crew determined a second was needed back on the clock. Underwood came back the next snap and found JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown to steal it. The committee is now on record saying that extra second should never have been there.
The problem for Kalamazoo is the rulebook. Under NCAA Rule 5-2-9, no rule decision may be changed once the ball is next legally snapped or the half or game has ended. Buchanan's touchdown was the next snap. The window to fix the error closed the instant that ball moved, and it stays closed no matter what the committee found afterward. The result stands. Michigan is 13-12, ranked No. 19, and moving on.
In the committee's release, they shared:
"When a replay review requires time to be restored or otherwise adjusted, the replay official’s decision will be based on the embedded game clock contained within the program feed. If the broadcaster is unable to provide an embedded game clock, the replay official will use the game-clock graphic displayed as part of the broadcast feed."
So the MAC got an acknowledgment and nothing else. The NCAA cannot lift a win off Michigan's schedule. What commissioner Jon Steinbrecher was really chasing, in his appeals to both the Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff, was for those bodies to treat Western Michigan as the winner when they build rankings and weigh at-large bids and the Group of Five's automatic spot in December. The committee did not go there in its statement. It confirmed the error and pointed at the rule that ends the conversation.
Lance Taylor is in his fourth season at Western Michigan and coming off the best year in program history. The Broncos went 10-4 in 2025, beat Miami (OH) 23-13 for the MAC title, then handled Kennesaw State 41-6 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the first WMU team to win a conference championship and a bowl in the same season. Before Kalamazoo, Taylor was Louisville's offensive coordinator in 2022 and spent three seasons at Notre Dame as running backs coach and run-game coordinator. He has a good team. He now also has a paper trail from the NCAA saying his team beat Michigan.
Michigan improved to 2-0 with a win over Oklahoma last weekend following the WMU debacle, and Western Michigan got in the win column as well with a 49-14 win over Monmouth (FCS - NJ) last weekend.
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