Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor speaks on screw job at the Big House

(See Big Ten statement below.)

The clock hit zero at Michigan Stadium twice on Saturday night. 

The first time, Western Michigan won 12-7.

The second and final time, Michigan won 13-12.

The replay official lording over the game initiated a replay after Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood's first Hail Mary attempt sailed out of the back of the end zone, awarding an additional second to the defeated Wolverines despite zero evidence to the NBC audience that the ball was touched with time remaining on the clock. Given a second chance, Underwood hit JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown as time expired a second time.

"People have mentioned it to me that the game was over," Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor said after the game. "Our commissioner has already reached out, I know he handles those types of situations. I thought the crew tonight did a nice job handling multiple reviews and close calls. I'll let our commissioner and those guys handle it. At the end of the day you don't always control those situations."

The replay system was installed to fix obvious errors, but instead has too often evolved into a solution looking for a problem.

And on Saturday night, it apparently created a major problem for the Big Ten, the MAC, and college football in general. 

"The ball isn't even close to touching a player when it goes to zero," NBC rules analyst Terry McAuley said on the air. "Their Hawk-Eye system apparently had a different sync... I don't see how that happened, assuming our clock is correct. The ball is clearly still in the air when the clock goes to zero."

Taylor's answer after the game heavily implied the MAC will come forward with a statement, likely sooner than later, and likely answering the legitimate question of whether WMU will accept the loss. The Big Ten will also need to come with a statement -- a Big Ten crew worked the game -- as well as a lengthy explanation as to how the situation will be investigated by the conference. 

In the meantime, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest. 

Update: After the publication of this article, the Big Ten released a statement, as well as a recording of the deliberations that led to adding a second to the clock. The conference did not explain why and how the stadium clock became out of sync with NBC's clock. 

The MAC followed with a statement indicating the conference will accept the result of the contest.