Lance Taylor was working in Western Michigan's football facility the morning after Western Michigan's heartbreaking loss at Michigan when his university president called a press conference to discuss one of the most improbable and controversial finishes in college football history.
"Frankly, he would probably rather be training with his kids," WMU president Russ Kavalhuna said.
Western Michigan's president and head coach spent nearly an hour speaking to reporters, repeating one common theme after Big Ten officials decided to place one second back on the clock following a replay review, paving the way for Michigan's 13-12 Hail Mary win: they had accepted the Big Ten officials' ruling, and they're ready to move forward.
"I will say I've looked into this pretty closely, and I used to be a federal prosecutor," Kavalhuna said. "I don't discern anything unfair or untoward in this process. Can the process be improved by having what the viewing public sees as the same as what the reviewing officials see? Maybe. Frankly, that's not for me to decide."
In a sport where the standard response to grievance is now a court filing or a public display of disdain, where schools sue conferences, conferences sue schools, and players sue everybody, Western Michigan opted for acceptance and understanding. Western Michigan may have the cleanest case for outrage, but its university president and football coach opted for peace, even after people close to the program wanted more outrage.
"Our students and our coach and our university live in a world where we don't always get what we want," Kavalhuna said. "That's an opportunity for us to show that, unlike what we see a lot in our society, where we point fingers at someone else and we say that what happened to us was bad because of someone else, even if it was, we know that those people exist in our lives, and we also know that the people we want on our teams and we want in our houses of worship and in our neighborhoods, they're the kind of people who say, 'Man, that really hurt, but we're stronger together. We're going to move forward. We can take this pain and use it to galvanize strength.'
Why one second changed everything
Michigan won Saturday night after replay officials restored one second to the clock following an incomplete Hail Mary pass that appeared to end the game with a 12-7 Western Michigan victory. After the Big Ten's review, Bryce Underwood was given one more shot and found JJ Buchanan in a mass of players in the front middle of the end zone for a 47-yard, game-winning touchdown as time expired — for a second time. The conference released a statement roughly two hours after the game, along with video of what its replay officials viewed, saying it determined that Broncos safety Micah Davis, a former scout team player at Michigan, leaped from an established out-of-bounds position and touched the ball with one second remaining.
The burning question: Why did the game clock on NBC's television broadcast show no time on the clock? Kavalhuna told CBS Sports on Sunday that the school has not spoken to NBC.
"Our (NBC) cameras are not the official arbiter of timekeeping within the game," NBC provided in a statement released Sunday afternoon. "That is the Big Ten and game officials' responsibility."
The Big Ten said that a direct shot of the stadium clock, synchronized with all broadcast cameras in the replay system via a strobe system 85 minutes before the game, was used in the ruling. The game clock, visible on NBC's national telecast, had already hit zero, however. It was explained that what was seen on the broadcast was not on the same synchronized clock as the replay center.
Western Michigan entered Michigan Stadium a four-touchdown underdog and led for most of the night. Kavalhuna said the Broncos "dominated" for 40 minutes after Michigan's initial touchdown.
WMU chooses acceptance over outrage
The Western Michigan president said he spent the hours after the loss inside Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor looking for a way to contest it. He spoke with MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher and then with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti at 1 a.m.
"There are no appeals in this review process for the Big Ten or the MAC, and I asked if we should have a review process, if we should think about building one, but there is none right now," Kavalhuna said.
Turning disappointment into a lesson
Taylor and Kavalhuna spent nearly an hour discussing the game and answering reporters' questions Sunday afternoon. They focused primarily on using the disappointment as a lesson to teach the players about life.
"Because life is not always fair," Taylor said. "You don't always get the promotion that you want. You don't always get the job when you're the most qualified; you worked extremely hard for it."
Still, that doesn't erase the hurt or the belief among some that they were wronged and that Western Michigan had indeed won the game.
"Maybe they're even right that it was unfair, but this is a remarkable opportunity for us to look forward," Kavalhuna said. "Western Michigan University teaches people how to get punched in the mouth and the gut, and then get up and go forward, and that's what we're going to do, because that's what you do if you're from Western Michigan University."
The MAC thanked the Big Ten for its explanation, accepted it, and Steinbrecher congratulated Michigan in a statement released after the Big Ten's statement explained the review process and released video and audio of the replay center's review.
"Even though we don't agree, they cooperated in all aspects," Taylor said.
Neither man said they believed the call was correct, though they were staunch in their support of the process and the integrity of the Big Ten's system. Both said people close to Western Michigan wanted them to press the issue further Saturday night.
"There are a lot of folks that are asking us to lash out, and that's not what Broncos do," Kavalhuna told CBS Sports in a separate interview Sunday. "We'll just go forward, and we'll show why we were the better team that night and why we hope to be the better team in every one of our games."
"There were a lot of people who were upset that we didn't address it more," Taylor said. "I didn't address it more angrily in my press conference or stand on the table. We absolutely stood on the table for our team, for our players, for our kids, for the integrity of the game, and made sure that we wanted an official review and clarification on that call and why it was called and make sure that we all understood that it was the right call."
Western Michigan also knew that the game's result would not change.
"When people think that they've been treated unfairly, they tend not to appreciate it," Kavalhuna said. "So it would actually be bad leadership to continue to look back and try to figure out a way to change the outcome."
Taylor assigned the loss to his own team, taking ownership, just as he did mere minutes after the game at a post-game press conference. Western Michigan had chances to put the game away before it reached a Hail Mary, he said. His clock management could have been better, too, he explained.
"Ultimately, the refs did not cost this game, and if we make the mistake of making an excuse, it allows us to be bitter instead of getting better," Taylor said. "And I think that's where we want to go as a football team."
Taylor met with the team's leadership council and staff on Sunday morning and planned a team meeting for the afternoon. The Broncos are the favorites to win the MAC this season after winning the title in 2025 by winning 10 of their last 11 games.
"I think on a national level stage, our team showed that we can play with anybody in the country," Taylor said.
Still, there are other obstacles and hypotheticals to consider. How will the College Football Playoff's Selection Committee handle the loss at Michigan if the Broncos are fighting for a playoff spot with another Group of Six program or a multi-loss team from the Power Four?
"I'd say that football game was between two good teams. I think Michigan will be a good team. I think Western Michigan is a great team," Kavalhuna told CBS Sports. "I hope they don't even look at that as a loss, but if it is looked at as a loss, I would say I've never seen a better loss on an analysis than going into the Big House, 28-point underdogs, controlling the ball like that and winning over 60 minutes and losing in the last second."
