The Big Ten announced on Wednesday that it will expand access to replay reviews for all television broadcasts of games officiated by the conference, effective this Saturday. This decision follows a controversial ending in last week’s game between Michigan and Western Michigan, where Michigan secured a 13-12 victory after an additional second was added to the game clock, despite the NBC broadcast indicating that the fourth quarter had ended.
The enhanced access to the replay process will include seven games involving Big Ten teams on Saturday, including No. 5 Indiana's home game against Howard. Following the controversial ending of the Michigan game, the Big Ten released a video explaining the decision made by the replay officials, although this enhanced access was not immediately available to NBC or its viewers.
According to Wednesday’s announcement, broadcasts for all Big Ten games and over 20 non-conference contests will now feature live audio between the game referee and replay official during reviews, alongside video of the game footage being viewed during the process and a view inside the Big Ten Replay Center.
Jon Steinbrecher, the commissioner of the Mid-American Conference, had previously made a written appeal to the NCAA’s football oversight committee and the College Football Playoff, requesting that Western Michigan be declared the winner of the game. However, ESPN reported that the rules do not provide a mechanism for reversing outcomes of games that have already been declared over.
Ron Snodgrass, the NCAA’s national coordinator of officials, sent a memo to both conferences outlining a standard timing protocol to ensure consistency in officiating. The memo stated that when a replay review requires time to be restored or adjusted, the replay official’s decision will be based on the embedded game clock contained within the program feed. If the broadcaster cannot provide an embedded game clock, the replay official will use the game-clock graphic displayed as part of the broadcast feed.