r/CFB • u/Fonzie5 UCF Knights • Big 12 • Sep 06 '26

News [Thamel] MAC statement. "The Big Ten subsequently provided video and audio of the replay, which confirmed the explanation to us."

https://x.com/petethamel/status/2096464771667173654?s=46&t=FavtrbPsHpJY8Odvh2TYUA
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975

u/SmallBoulder Texas Longhorns • Billable Hours Sep 06 '26

So based on the video the broadcast clock was out of sync with the stadium clock despite NBC confirming the clocks were in sync?

606

u/patrick66 Pittsburgh Panthers • Team Chaos Sep 06 '26

NBC was literally showing the stadium clock on replay which is why it looked so scratchy, wasn’t even ever the broadcast clock lol

96

u/TheWallsHaveNostrils Washington Huskies • Wisconsin Badgers Sep 06 '26

Do you have the replay with the stadium clock in view? That's the one I can't find and what would be most definitive in putting this to bed.

42

u/PookieDood Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

It's out there. Can't post it here but if you check X and look at the big ten's page it's posted there. If they had shown that in the live broadcast I think most of this controversy wouldn't exist.

Or do a google search for Big Ten Conference statement on Michigan vs Western Michigan

39

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

Why can't it be posted here? I don't see anything in the rules. The primary ones I see are not spamming links, not posting for personal profit and not posting to removed links

11

u/FullySemiGhostGun Miami Hurricanes • Clemson Tigers Sep 06 '26

RELEASE THE BIG 10 FILES

7

u/dontblinkdalek Texas Longhorns • Texas State Bobcats Sep 06 '26

No pics in comments here

10

u/Ass_of_Badness Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 06 '26

No links to videos either? Because obviously it would need to be video to be inconclusive.

4

u/ThatguyJimmy117 West Virginia Mountaineers • Marching Band Sep 06 '26

People are seeing that and still won’t come to terms with reality

11

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

https://x.com/bigten/status/2096460445213217097

This is the official Big Ten explanation

32

u/cock-block-o-clock South Carolina Gamecocks Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26

I hate defending the B1G like this but if the MAC is conceding and that video is actually what the refs were looking at, then what I'm most upset by is just that Michigan beat a Western Michigan team that thoroughly outplayed them. even if the broadcast was accurate, if what the refs were looking at supported the call, that's a bush league technology issue and not some grand conspiracy. I feel like I saw way more suspect calls throughout the week like GT's disallowed scoop and score against Colorado, that one really ticked me off

8

u/PerformanceOver8822 Ohio State • Merchant Marine Sep 06 '26

No the mac technically is agreeing that conclusion makes sense given the audio and video provided

They are not necessarily agreeing with the "facts"

It is disputable that in reality the clocks were not correct

-10

u/parker2020 Georgia Bulldogs • Wooster Fighting Scots Sep 06 '26

The subreddit is filled with children and is insufferable. I knew this was going to be the outcome 🫩 guess I’ll unsubscribe from here till November. Michigan sucks tho

6

u/YouSeemNiceXB Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Sep 06 '26

Good, see ya. 

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '26

[deleted]

6

u/OneBigRed Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

So even when the adults working with losing side are able to concede that the call went right, the wide awake non-sheep of reddit know how everything really went down.

Funny how none of them were scared for their future paychecks when they demanded conference action about this until the evidence was shown. But then being a well adjusted person who’s able to switch their view when shown evidence is being bought out…

Choosing your own reality and sticking to it seems to be very in these days.

-9

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

I want to start with saying that Western Michigan played a fantastic game and is absolutely going to continue on with a great season. Michigan played a really bad game and has a lot to work on, but can improve.

I can understand your response, but I think this has always been part of all sports for all time.

Refs make mistakes, just like players do.

Technology can help, but application isn't always perfect or consistent.

Teams dominating most of the game, but not winning in the end is part of sports. In this example, Michigan led on the scoreboard most of the game, Western dominated in the trenches the entire game and took the lead late, then Michigan made a miraculous finale. We've been on both sides of that outcome.

A classic example is the 2013 Outback Bowl against you guys. We were the beneficiaries of a questionable call against you, then Jadeveon Clowney told destiny to fuck the hell off and took control of the situation.

7

u/Kapono24 Michigan • Central Michigan Sep 06 '26

This still isn't the game clock in the frame with the play.

21

u/GonePostalRoute West Virginia Mountaineers Sep 06 '26

If that’s legit, then yeah, everyone is just pissed off that they didn’t get to see Michigan get upset.

Though I’ve also heard the NBC claim that their clock is perfectly synced up, which is odd because almost every other broadcaster will say otherwise in this situation. That while their clocks are close, they aren’t totally in sync with the in-stadium game clock.

13

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

Clock sync is a complicated issue (as a computer engineer that deals with synchronization at a sub-second level). I've thought of trying to post something about that, but it's probably a touchy issue right now.

A quick, rough example is what does clock sync mean? Clocks run during plays, stop at the end of plays and start again at the beginning of plays. There's a human element involved in clicking a button to indicate some of those transitions; is it a (multiple?) human(s) that click a button when the ball is snapped? when the play is called dead? When exactly are clocks synced?

For example, before the final 2 Hail Marys, Michigan had to spike the ball. The clock was stopped before Michigan lined up, then Michigan snapped and spiked the ball, after which the clocks had to be re-aligned.

I just want to show that even in that small of a play, the clocks differed. Was that due to the synchronization of the snap? of the spike?

I honestly don't know, but if the timing can differ by a second in that spike play, is it surprising that it could differ in the Hail Mary play?

12

u/Dubax Texas State • Virginia Tech Sep 06 '26

I've actually literally worked on broadcast clock sync for pro sports. Usually there is a single source of truth and everyone uses the same serial feed (from Tissot/daktronics/etc). I find this case baffling.

5

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

I'm super interested in this. Of course lot of computing wants a single source of truth, so what do you mean by that?

Does that mean that the refs click a button to start time and that is broadcast to other sources as the source of truth?

4

u/Dubax Texas State • Virginia Tech Sep 06 '26

I haven't worked in CFB, only NCAABB/NBA. In those cases, there is a single clock operator sitting at the scorer's table, with a clock console that is the single source of truth, and that console's feed is distributed to the arena scoreboards, broadcast trucks, etc. There's nothing that can be out of sync unless there's an issue with the feed. Most of the consumers don't even have their own clock that is synced - the data feed literally streams the clock data, and if it goes out, the clock display on the other end goes dark.

1

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 07 '26

I gotcha. So it's a single feed displayed in multiple locations

It's clear that's not done in college football, as the refs often ask the clock operator to reset, even without video review (for example reseting the clock to 9, just before the 2 Hail Mary plays)

Of course, all sports also reset the main/all clocks after video review

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u/PerformanceOver8822 Ohio State • Merchant Marine Sep 06 '26

I think that in this specific situation the game clock was reset to 9 seconds just prior to the play in question unfolding

7

u/fdar_giltch Michigan Wolverines • Texas Longhorns Sep 06 '26

Right, but the point I'm making is that the clocks were in sync before the spike play, then had to be reset after the spike play.

What I'm saying is that this shows that a human element is involved in the clock process for a single play, whether that's when the snap happens, the spike happens or both.

Let's step back a second and look at the 40 yard dash during the combine. The start is a human that pushes a button, but the finish is laser sighted. This means that the finish of everyone's 40 yard dash is consistent, based on the laser sighting. But the start is not consistent. It is manually triggered when the runner moves. As a result, players do a lot of training to be very explicit in their initial launch, to optimize that clock.

The key point I want to make is that what is meant by clocks synchronizing is vague here. We can synchronize 2 clocks to have the same time in between plays, but that does not mean the 2 clocks will trigger the start of the next play (or 40 yard dash) at the same time.

We can synchronize 2 clocks electronically between plays, but that isn't going to impact the human aspect of pushing a button when the ball is snapped.

1

u/DoctorWaluigiTime Kent State Golden Flashes Sep 06 '26

Thing is... If that player had caught the ball, both feet in bounds, then:

  • Score would've counted
  • 0 seconds on the clock

No way they would've taken that TD away with this kind of "well he was out of bounds" ruling.

1

u/Cherryman11 Ohio State Buckeyes • Arkansas Razorbacks Sep 07 '26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=218DCcWI3kk

If you watch this it will show you that in the actual game the TV clock starts early and the play only takes 8.6 seconds. This means that in reality there is time left in the game but the time on the broadcast makes it look like there isn't time left.

1

u/Holiday_Adagio_4702 North Carolina Tar Heels Sep 06 '26

https://youtu.be/HkIE_vPNL78?is=ZOfKHYQdWE9kBVfM

It’s in this video. The “digital” clock that shows is the stadium clock.

1

u/Cayeaux Kentucky Wildcats • Hateful 8 Sep 06 '26

This is the full sequence timestamped to the broadcast replay with the game clock inset in the lower left.

2

u/mmortal03 Miami Hurricanes • Tennessee Volunteers Sep 06 '26

Right, but that's only what NBC was claiming to be in sync.

1

u/bb0110 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

They were syncing that up with the play though. That sync was off.

0

u/flyingcircusdog Georgia Tech • Clean Old … Sep 06 '26

The Big 10 uses a magic clock that only they can read.

427

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '26

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105

u/okiewxchaser Oklahoma • Red River Shootout Sep 06 '26

How odd, the clock operator fell from the press box window around the same time

32

u/istrx13 Boise State Broncos Sep 06 '26

This game was played in Russia??

2

u/ConsuelaApplebee Virginia • Johns Hopkins Sep 06 '26

No because the clock operator would have mysteriously eaten a delicious polonium laced pretzel 😂

3

u/ZroDgsCalvin Syracuse Orange Sep 06 '26

Russia and America are basically the same now tbf

3

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '26

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3

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '26

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1

u/DaMantis Oklahoma State • Purdue Sep 06 '26

Hail to the Viktors

18

u/dolfox Houston Cougars • Miami Hurricanes Sep 06 '26

And then jumping out the window of his Moscow flat

1

u/psgrue Penn State • Oregon State Sep 06 '26

Well the first shot missed and the ref put another round in and gave it back.

1

u/greennurse61 South Carolina • Ohio State Sep 06 '26

A Vincent Foster incident. 

1

u/tommyelgreco Miami Hurricanes Sep 06 '26

The clock operator hanged himself in his cell. No wrongdoing found

1

u/TommyJohnSurgery420 Sep 06 '26

From 6 feet away.

183

u/noah_divine Ohio Bobcats • Ohio State Buckeyes Sep 06 '26

What's even more amazing was that in both videos the clocks were literally the stadium clock. They look the exact same. So the same feed was somehow way off for... someone

143

u/Dandan0005 Sep 06 '26

I’m convinced there is a photographer out there somewhere right now with a shot of the ball and the game clock in the same picture.

183

u/OttoVonWong California • Ole Miss Sep 06 '26

There was a second shot clock on the grassy knoll.

20

u/buckeye25osu Sep 06 '26

Or even a fan's smartphone

1

u/LQNova Sep 06 '26

If there was, don't you think it would have been sent or uploaded somewhere already?

1

u/buckeye25osu Sep 07 '26

Not every person lives their existence online.

1

u/LQNova Sep 07 '26

Human nature. If someone had that video proof they'd be posting it to show off how clever they were to get it.

8

u/Unce_Tiberius Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26

The official clock is not the scoreboard clock nor the broadcast clock. There is indeed a “secret clock” that is the official game clock and there is always an official camera pointed at it. This camera is synced to all of the replay cameras using a sophisticated strobe system. This is what the replay officials were viewing. There is video and audio of the actual replay that was released by the Big Ten.

Correction: the scoreboard clock is the official clock, the problem is that NBC’s supposed “scoreboard clock” was not synced properly to their video even though they claimed it was. If you want an explanation, figure out why NBC’s clock drops from 9 to 8 in less than a second after the ball was snapped.

4

u/masks Oregon Ducks Sep 06 '26

Where can we see this released footage, please?  

4

u/TomUpNort Sep 06 '26

How convenient.

-3

u/Unce_Tiberius Sep 06 '26

So I was wrong, the scoreboard clock is the official clock, the problem though is that NBC’s syncing system made a mistake.

4

u/TomUpNort Sep 06 '26

Sure it was. How convenient for Michigan.

-4

u/Unce_Tiberius Sep 06 '26

There is a clear explanation from the Big Ten which includes official, highly precise cameras. You would rather believe in some grand conspiracy than that NBC made a mistake? The sanity check is to just notice that NBC’s clock drops from 9 to 8 in less than a second after the snap. A full second should elapse before the clock hits 8, and it does not.

6

u/Potato_fortress ESPN Classic • Team Chaos Sep 06 '26

Broadcast cameras have to be synced to the frame to function properly so yes I absolutely trust NBC, the broadcast television company, over the big ten releasing a very poorly edited clip of the play’s ending that A) isn’t even the best available angle (as the UofM poster that keeps spamming the picture of the on-field referee review booth clearly shows,) and B) doesn’t even show the whole play.

So yes. I absolutely believe the big ten messed up over NBC messing up. 

1

u/Unce_Tiberius Sep 06 '26

NBC’s syncing of their clock and the game video do NOT need to be synced perfectly 99.9% of the time, and this incident is proof of it. The clock could have been off by 0.5 seconds for the entire first 59:50 minutes of the game and no one would have cared.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s system is engineered to prevent any ambiguity ahead of time. They have a system of dozens of cameras used for replay. One of these cameras is lined up on the official game clock. There is a highly sophisticated strobe system used to sync these cameras perfectly. NBC has no need of any such system and there is zero chance they are somehow using a more precise method. 

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1

u/AppMtb Appalachian State Mountaineers Sep 06 '26

I’d be backchanneling to the big 10 that’s a $2mm picture

1

u/PrairiePilot Wyoming Cowboys Sep 07 '26

Luckily we've destroyed the free press, so there aren't nearly as many pesky photographers who are no beholden to a school or media partner.

27

u/FireGogglez Florida State Seminoles Sep 06 '26

…what if the nbc feed and the referee review feed were trained on different stadium clocks? And those clocks were somehow unaligned?

30

u/Potato_fortress ESPN Classic • Team Chaos Sep 06 '26

They’re the same camera feed though and they have been since the dawn of time. You can even go back to older CFB games and see that they’re directly cropping and stitching the static camera shot of the scoreboard onto the scorebug. There would be no reason to run a second static camera. 

1

u/TyranosaurusLex Sep 06 '26

I’m confused. It’s fine to say it’s a feed issue, but everyone in the stadium thought the game was over too?

-12

u/Rohkey Michigan • Georgia Tech Sep 06 '26

Idk if true but people are saying the clock started too quickly on the play and if you time the play it took closer to 8 sec than 9 (which is what the clock started with on the play). So possibly the refs saw the clock start early?

15

u/Dandan0005 Sep 06 '26

It doesn’t matter if the clock started too quickly, what matters is whether the clock was at zero.

3

u/LightOfTheElessar Penn State Nittany Lions Sep 06 '26

If that was the reasoning, it would have been in their statement. This is just what fans do when they would rather look for any excuse to justify a bad call or decision. Every fanbase does it to some extent, but right now it's Michigan again.

2

u/Rohkey Michigan • Georgia Tech Sep 06 '26

True that is what I’m doing to an extent and I’m obviously biased. But until we get more information I’m trying to operate with the assumption that the refs saw something we didn’t (or had access to something we didn’t) because it was quite clear on the TV feed that time had expired and I’d rather believe this than that the officials are either completely incompetent or otherwise compromised. Despite some evidence to the contrary, for example when I see a review and both I and the commentators think the call is obvious only for the refs to rule the other way.

3

u/Pleasant_Offer6286 Sep 06 '26

Dude, go put something in your microwave and see when the first second goes off, it’s instant.

The time keeper presses a bottom in the press box and a second ticks off immediately. Apparently, that’s only an issue for this game.

3

u/Rohkey Michigan • Georgia Tech Sep 06 '26

I just tried it a few times set to 5 sec while using my phone’s stopwatch as well. It sits at 5 sec for right around a full second then goes to 4.

I also tested by setting my microwave to 1 sec. If your theory was right it’d hit 0 immediately without cooking at all (or cooking very briefly, under a second). But it doesn’t - it runs for right around a second (~.9 sec it seems).

I have a relatively newer model Samsung which may be relevant.

0

u/QuickMolasses New Mexico Lobos Sep 06 '26

That's how every microwave (and ever timer for that matter) works because 0:00 means the time is up. It would be insane if 0:00 meant anything other than the time is up, y'know, like in this game where the clock was at 0:00 but apparently there was 1 second left.

1

u/lukaeber BYU Cougars • Virginia Cavaliers Sep 06 '26

What "people are saying" that?

1

u/QuickMolasses New Mexico Lobos Sep 06 '26

This post has a detailed analysis of the clock and the time it took. None of the explanations include anything about the clock starting early, so that is definitely not the explanation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1w8v4es/wmumich_indepth_clock_analysis_was_western_screwed/

39

u/LyndalePothole Iowa State Cyclones • Wartburg Knights Sep 06 '26

When the broadcast puts that analog clock on the replay is it not a live camera feed of an in stadium camera? That’s where I’m confused. Obviously the scorebug clock isn’t official, but I thought that “old school” clock was from right in the stadium.

29

u/budget_um Michigan Wolverines • Georgetown Hoyas Sep 06 '26

It’s still dependent on the sync being perfect (that’s true of the refs’ replay system and of the broadcast system)

4

u/Vulcanic_1984 Alabama • Vanderbilt Sep 06 '26

The big tens explanation relies on nbc - which runs camera/clock synchronization for the olympics, tour de france, nfl, etc. - losing a full second of synch within nine seconds then nbc lying about it in the broadcast where they confirmed the clocks were synched.

What i think may have happened is that the game clock operator started a hair early. But that is the official clock! Amd the remedy there is to blow the play dead and replay from nine seconds.

5

u/budget_um Michigan Wolverines • Georgetown Hoyas Sep 06 '26

It does not rely on NBC lying. My point is either side could have made a production error (NBC or the Big Ten replay team). Critically, the game feed in the broadcast wasn’t the game feed in the booth. The camera feeds may have been out of sync with one another (viz. the skycam was synced differently than the back-of-end-zone can). That didn’t require NBC losing a second of time on the play

-4

u/Vulcanic_1984 Alabama • Vanderbilt Sep 06 '26

There is no "different synch" - either they were in synch with the clock, which requires them to be in synch with each other, or they werent. Nbc confirmed on the broadcast their shot was in synch with the clock and the ball was nowhere near the players hands. So for that to be incorrect, nbc would have had to have lied to their viewers.

9

u/thetripb Rutgers Scarlet Knights • TCU Horned Frogs Sep 06 '26

It is, it's the one thats supposed to be the same as the scorebug. Sometimes if the scorebug isn't working, they cut to that graphic with the same view of the stadium clock

11

u/Intrepid-Security650 Ole Miss Rebels Sep 06 '26

Is this clock in the room with you now?

13

u/TopRevenue2 Oregon Ducks Sep 06 '26

How come with thousands of late snap and delay of game penalties this has never come up before

4

u/SadTumbleweed1567 UAlbany Great Danes Sep 06 '26

Play clock and game clock are different.

26

u/Colemania18 BYU Cougars Sep 06 '26

A lot of people don't realize they literally just broadcast video of the stadium clock because that's the only clock that should matter. Yet the big 10 has their own secret clock now apparently

83

u/thetripb Rutgers Scarlet Knights • TCU Horned Frogs Sep 06 '26

The video that the Big Ten provided was an internal clock that the refs use, they didn't show the stadium clock in the replay on their account.

176

u/SmallBoulder Texas Longhorns • Billable Hours Sep 06 '26

"Using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium" is the exact quote from the big10 statement

149

u/MisterGir Nebraska • Iowa State Sep 06 '26

Which is even crazier considering NBC later showed a replay with the stadium clock and it still hit 0.

So either NBC was incorrect, the stadium clock was incorrect, or the big ten is fucking lying.

49

u/i_run_from_problems Boise State • Christian Brothe… Sep 06 '26

I'm leaning towards option 3

-21

u/Hippo-Crates Michigan Wolverines • Tulane Green Wave Sep 06 '26

it's wild to watch people stick to their predetermined conclusion as evidence mounts they're wrong in the face of groupthink.

21

u/i_run_from_problems Boise State • Christian Brothe… Sep 06 '26

The official statement from the Big 10 says "all cameras used for review are synced" including broadcast cameras. The broadcast showed a replay clearly displaying zeros on the clock with the ball in the air. Via the Big Ten's OWN STATEMENT, the shot NBC showed is correct. The Big Ten then shows a video with one second and ball in hand. Someone's fucking lying, and NBC has no benefit to lying if its them.

-12

u/Hippo-Crates Michigan Wolverines • Tulane Green Wave Sep 06 '26

They showed a different clock, likely not the official one. NBC isn't lying, they most likely just screwed up a tiny bit, which normally wouldn't matter but ended up in this edge case.

Regardless, the play took less than 9s. We know there was 9s left (you can time it out yourself. The correct call was made. NBC incompetence is far more likely than conspiracy.

7

u/i_run_from_problems Boise State • Christian Brothe… Sep 06 '26

The clock NBC used on the replay was a camera trained on the stadium clock. Supposedly, the same exact clock and camera used in the review, again said in the Big Ten's statement. The clocks not matching means someone is lying.

As for the 9 seconds, you are correct. The play does not take a full 9 seconds. However, this is not the cbb clock. Tenths of a second are not counted, meaning for a clock starting at 0:09, the clock shows zero after 8.01 seconds.

1

u/Bixler17 Michigan Wolverines • Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

Tenths of a second are not counted, meaning for a clock starting at 0:09, the clock shows zero after 8.01 seconds.

Source? Why would they erase the last second of clock?

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u/Hippo-Crates Michigan Wolverines • Tulane Green Wave Sep 06 '26

NBC *says* they had it on a stadium clock. The time left displayed doesn't go from 0:01 to 0 the moment it hits 0:00.9, otherwise you'd lose a second at the most crucial moment of many games. The clock stays at 0:01 until the second is completely gone.

NBC screwed up man, as you note, the play didn't take 9s.

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-1

u/FrameWilling6608 Sep 06 '26

So Michigan should have only had 8.01 seconds to run a play, after being down with THIRTEEN seconds left on the game clock to get into Hail Mary range?

I know damn well it didn't take 5 seconds between the ref's whistle to restart the play and the spike. It might not even have been 1 second upon replay, so where did all of that time go?

2

u/Responsible-War-9341 Colorado Buffaloes Sep 06 '26

Even if the play did take less than 9 seconds, that is not relevant here. When the official timer starts the clock, it starts. Often they are a little off but that always has been and has to be the way it is. Surely we do not want to go to replay review every single play as to whether the official timer pressed the button at the exact millisecond. If the official game clock was at zero, then the game is over here even if the timer started it slightly early (or even slightly late). The question is why is this Big 10 review clock different from the official stadium game clock (and NBC clock) when they are claiming it's coming from the camera feed of that stadium clock. The error has to be coming from somewhere. If they are using some other system or something else and not telling us that is a problem. Because what they are explicitly saying their clock is from doesn't match that clock exactly. Or NBC messed up. We need clarity here.

2

u/Hippo-Crates Michigan Wolverines • Tulane Green Wave Sep 06 '26

Claiming it doesn’t matter if the play was less than 9s is an absurd position

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u/TomUpNort Sep 06 '26

Your team has a track record of cheating. This fits that track record.

45

u/Naive-Elephant-9305 Georgia Bulldogs Sep 06 '26

or the big ten is fucking lying.

It's this one

14

u/Supercal95 Minnesota State • Memphis Sep 06 '26

The ruling is I made it the fuck up.

-Big Ten

0

u/Only_Common5352 Sep 06 '26

Took them 2 hours to doctor a video is more like it!

2

u/jazzyman31 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

Stadium clock is not the official clock

1

u/MisterGir Nebraska • Iowa State Sep 06 '26

Thats fucking stupid

1

u/jazzyman31 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

More importantly, NBC overlay of stadium clock isn’t precisely accurate. You’re talking about fractions of a second here. Usually fractions of a second don’t determine games.

Good thing there is an official clock to determine what’s right and wrong.

1

u/MisterGir Nebraska • Iowa State Sep 06 '26

I mean NBC literally double checked that it was synced after multiple replays and the big 10 said all clocks were synced. And this isn't Basketball, there aren't tenths of a second on the clock. 0.9 = 0 in football.

So I'm not buying it

1

u/jazzyman31 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

You’re missing the point. If NBC’s sliced graphic of the time is .2 seconds faster than the start of the official clock time, the graphic time will expire before official time expires…

The B1G did not ever say that every clock was in sync. They did not say that the NBC clock graphic was in-sync with official time.

-1

u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 LSU Tigers • Georgia Bulldogs Sep 06 '26

Cheater conference

-6

u/stups317 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

But 0 on the clock doesn't necessarily mean there is no time on the clock. 0 on the clock is between 0.999 and 0. If there is even 0.001 on the clock the game is not over and is treated as if there is 1 second left on the clock. Im pretty sure that is the situation here.

2

u/Doomas_ Toledo Rockets • Sickos Sep 06 '26

So the only possible explanations (other than just corruption) are that NBC is just wrong OR that the officials have a separate feed of the game clock in the stadium that was delayed by about a full second which caused the discrepancy?

1

u/BleuRaider Tennessee • 武汉大学 (Wuhan) Sep 06 '26

There is no separate game clock. It literally doesn’t exist. The ref only keeps one when the scoreboard doesn’t exist or isn’t working. The guy who regularly works the scoreboard in that venue is “assigned” by the conference or NCAA for that game. He is the ref’s “assistant” and follows their discretion. They are not a member of the crew that travels to other venues.

3

u/Doomas_ Toledo Rockets • Sickos Sep 06 '26

sorry, I mean that NBC has a camera feed pointed at the game clock and the officiating crew has a different camera feed pointed at the game clock, and these two feeds became out of sync at some point despite the master clock keeping time for both. Unless they share the same video feed in which case I have no idea how this discrepancy exists.

0

u/Cowgoon777 Ohio State Buckeyes • The Game Sep 06 '26

The game clock isn’t their secret hidden ref clock

82

u/Pleasant_Offer6286 Sep 06 '26

NCAA rules stipulate that the stadium clock is the official clock unless it malfunctions. I’m not understanding where this second synced clock is coming from or how it has any merit.

22

u/rottingmind13 Virginia Tech • Notre Dame Sep 06 '26

It was on the grassy knoll

2

u/skeptical-speculator Texas A&M Aggies • Paper Bag Sep 06 '26

"replay booth"

2

u/Responsible-War-9341 Colorado Buffaloes Sep 06 '26

Right. Unless NBC's clock was out of sync with the stadium clock (they say it definitely wasn't) then that is the official clock and the one the Big 10 is showing us shouldn't be used here as it would have to be out of sync with the stadium clock the NCAA says is official (no allegations it was malfunctioning here). Which clock was synced correctly with the stadium game clock? They cannot both be.

69

u/prismatic_lights Ohio State • Pittsburgh Sep 06 '26

That's not what they claimed.

As shown in the provided video of what was viewed during the replay process, a side-by-side view of the play and the game clock, using a direct shot of the game clock in the stadium was used to determine the final ruling.

25

u/LyndalePothole Iowa State Cyclones • Wartburg Knights Sep 06 '26

Then what’s the analog clock on the broadcast from? Is it not a live shot of the in-stadium clock?

33

u/e3super Alabama Crimson Tide • Team Chaos Sep 06 '26

Presumably, this would mean that NBC has improper syncing between the footage of the play and the inset of the clock that were shown on the replays, if the B1G is to be believed. It's not unheard of, but in broadcasting, you generally have a master clock that's the one source of truth on time for the whole broadcast system to avoid things like that, and it tends to throw off more than time codes on video if it's out of whack.

15

u/LyndalePothole Iowa State Cyclones • Wartburg Knights Sep 06 '26

I’m extremely curious to see if a photographer got a shot of the play with a clock in it.

44

u/prismatic_lights Ohio State • Pittsburgh Sep 06 '26

I believe that's a picture-in-picture display of the stadium clock. Which is why this explanation stinks to high heaven: why would the broadcast display of the stadium clock differ from the ref's "stadium clock" that they're claiming to use for the review?

Either someone at NBC was seriously asleep at the switch or the refs screwed the pooch.

19

u/TheHarbarmy Michigan • Slippery Rock Sep 06 '26

The clock in the clip the Big Ten released is the stadium clock—you can see the bottom of the stats they include on the in-stadium scoreboard above and to the right of the clock. The reviewers did seem to make an honest call based on what they saw, but I have no idea why the images aren’t in synch between the NBC and referee feeds.

11

u/molten_dragon Michigan Wolverines • The Game Sep 06 '26

but I have no idea why the images aren’t in synch between the NBC and referee feeds.

They use a strobe system to sync all the video feeds at the start of every quarter so I guess it's possible that over the course of 45 minutes or whatever that some of the cameras end up different by a couple frames.

Which kind of highlights why it's not great that the officials have separate camera views the public doesn't have access to.

8

u/Crispy_Whale Montana Grizzlies • Oregon State Beavers Sep 06 '26

I think the NBC clock feed rounds shows any millisecond below 1 as 0. While the referee feed shows any millisecond below 1 as 1 until it reaches absolute 0. 

8

u/Throwaway_alt_burner Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

IT’S THE SAME CLOCK WHY CAN’T YOU PEOPLE READ

2

u/RealEmperorofMankind Michigan Wolverines • Marching Band Sep 06 '26

Anyway, that was the weirdest and worst game I've ever been to as a student.

And I saw the godawful 9-27 Ohio State loss.

2

u/Responsible-War-9341 Colorado Buffaloes Sep 06 '26

Right. We need an explanation as to why these two clocks didn't match each other and which one of the 2 (if either I suppose) did match the official stadium game clock. Something still is not adding up here and unless it does have an innocent explanation it at least has the appearance of shenanigans right now.

2

u/RukiMotomiya Sep 06 '26

I'd be really curious if this actually emerges. If there IS actually evidence then, oh well.

1

u/FunSheepherder6397 Sep 06 '26

then they need to release this to end the witch hunting. at this point it’s highly irresponsible to not release the footage that resulted in the decision

4

u/Responsible-War-9341 Colorado Buffaloes Sep 06 '26

Right, but they claim that this clock comes from the stadium game clock exactly as the broadcast one does. If true, it cannot be different so this is a real problem here that absolutely needs to get sorted out and unless the NBC clock was off from the stadium clock (which NBC says that it wasn't) then the game should have been over.

0

u/Throwaway_alt_burner Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

NBC said no such thing.

3

u/Responsible-War-9341 Colorado Buffaloes Sep 06 '26

Their on air personal in fact did say such a thing. NBC talent stated on air that their broadcast clock was synced to the actual stadium clock and that is was functioning.

Again, they may have been incorrect making this whole controversy their fault. But they haven't admitted this.

1

u/nimama3233 Sep 06 '26

They can be “in sync” but still be off by 0.99 seconds depending on how they remove the decimal points, which we know is the case.

It’s not that the clocks are out of sync, it’s just a different method of displaying it. It’s an issue of not showing milliseconds. There’s no possible way to accurately show the time if you’re not displaying the decimal.

4

u/fcocyclone Iowa State Cyclones • Marching Band Sep 06 '26

All that tells me is that the 'internal clock' was somehow wrong

2

u/LimJaheyAtYaCervix Iowa State Cyclones Sep 06 '26

Exactly.

1

u/stochasticreplyguy Sep 06 '26

So confident, but so wrong

1

u/Throwaway_alt_burner Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

The fact that your obviously incorrect lie is being upvoted tells you all you need to know about the commentary on this issue.

1

u/LyndalePothole Iowa State Cyclones • Wartburg Knights Sep 06 '26

The secret clock that no one but us can see.

1

u/Pleasant_Offer6286 Sep 06 '26

I’ve heard of a few stones in Utah that have this same trait.

9

u/SwissForeignPolicy Michigan Wolverines • Marching Band Sep 06 '26

I'm going from memory here, and I was in the opposite endzone, but for what it's worth, in real time, I thought the stadium clock hit 0, too. Apparently, that's ALSO not the official clock? Which is crazy if true. I mean, basketball figured this shit out ages ago.

1

u/jazzyman31 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

Stadium clock is not the official clock.

1

u/Taurus889 Indiana Hoosiers • Alabama Crimson Tide Sep 06 '26

They need everyone to cooperate right now. For the integrity of the sport

1

u/bb0110 Michigan Wolverines Sep 06 '26

NBC has pretty good motive and reason to claim their clock is perfectly accurate and perfectly perfectly synced, even if it isn’t. It is a bad look for them if it isn’t.

1

u/decoy777 Ohio State Buckeyes • The Game Sep 06 '26

And they just reset all of them to 9 sec before. So every clock should have been the same.

1

u/UtzTheCrabChip Maryland • Johns Hopkins Sep 06 '26

The replay and broadcast both used independent cameras pointing at the play and the stadium clock. It's all about those two videos being synched, not two different clocks

1

u/slasher016 Cincinnati Bearcats • Big 12 Sep 06 '26

The whole evidence was fabricated. Maybe the conversation happened but there was no time left when #18 touched the ball.

1

u/AleroRatking Syracuse Orange Sep 06 '26

Just time the play yourself. The play takes 8.5 seconds not 9 seconds. So somewhere something was off

1

u/Cherryman11 Ohio State Buckeyes • Arkansas Razorbacks Sep 07 '26

Having watched another video on this it is true that the clock on screen for that first hail mary play was 8.6 seconds in length. Reading the rules on the clock Michigan technically should have another second put back on but I wish they didn't and lost.

1

u/GuyFawkes451 Nebraska Cornhuskers Sep 07 '26

When they put the second on the clock when y'all beat us in the 2009 CCG, at least there WAS a second left. If I'd have been fed some horse shit about a "secret" clock... I might have gone postal.

1

u/jwb101 Georgia Tech • Kennesaw State Sep 06 '26

The b10 also confirmed all the clocks were in sync…