re: Objective proof Michigan should have had the last play

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Football is not timed in fractions


This. Some of yall don’t know how clocks work

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I might be one of the last people on TD to suggest they don't know how clocks work...

Football is indeed timed in fractions; those fractions are only displayed in whole seconds. I am 99% sure the master clock at the stadium measures time in 1/32768ths of a second. The frequency an energized quartz crystal vibrates. They are only capable of displaying that time.

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If you set a timer to 9 seconds, it’ll immediately jump to 8.99 when you hit start, when shows up as 8 seconds on the clock.

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This is correct, however, this only happens when the display can represent hundreths of a second. If it only displays 1/10ths when you press start it will be 1/10th of a second before it displays 8.9 seconds. I don't kn ow about Andrioid but if you have an iPhone the timer displays whole seonds only. Open it and set it to 9 seconds and hit start, notice it takes a full second to change the display to 8 seconds, this is the way countdown timers work just like the ones used in football, basketball, et al.

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the only reason that doesn’t happen here is the delay from the clock operator starting the clock once the ball is snapped….a few tenths of a second delay.

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No, that is not why countdown timers work as they do. Human reaction time is an issue in football; every start of the clock is delayed by ~.3 seconds but that tends to even out because they are late stoppoing time as well.

The reality is there was a timing error. The clock reached 0 before 9 full seconds elapsed.

I will put it this way. If the clock read 1:20 at the end of the half and there was one play that took 10 seconds and the clock then read :10 instead of 1:10 would you say there should only be 10 seconds left in the half because the clock says so?

One can argue the rules shouldn't or don't allow for correction of a timing error in football. That is a different discussion. In the case the ref said put 9 seconds on the clock prior to a play, that play took less than 9 seconds and the game clock showed 0:00 before 9 seconds elapsed. That is proof of a timing error. The game clock should have shown 0:01 for over .5 seconds.

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Like most everyone else, though, my problem is the existence of a special secret clock. How can the public ever know that a game is being officiated correctly?

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It’s not a special secret clock.

But the time that you see in the stadium and the scoreboard on ESPN, is not the same clock the officials use

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Can the ref and the timekeeper see the same thing at the same moment from differing angles?

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The timekeeper stops the clock based on a signal to do so from the officials on the field - timekeepers do not make their own determination as to when the clock should be stopped.

I saw something on youtube that contended the ball hit the crossbar before the clock hit 0:00. I have no idea if that is true but just what I saw in some random video

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I saw something on youtube that contended the ball hit the crossbar before the clock hit 0:00.

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It is possible, but I haven't seen a camera angle that gave any credence to that position, and that is not what the refs relied upon.

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Do you think Western Michigan would have gotten another play if it was them trying to score?

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It's not like there isn't proof of this happening in reverse...oh wait CMU's untimed down Hail Mary to beat Oklahoma State by a Big 12 crew that made the wrong call gifting CMU a win. Guess you guys were sleeping for that one. Objectivity has a recency bias.

Set the clock to nine seconds is almost always 9:00. Has it ever been 9:59 seconds?
We are talking football, not the end of Pro basketball games.

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I don’t know what’s more pathetic, that Michigan and the Big Ten had to cheat to beat a MAC school, or that they tried to gaslight everyone into believing they didn’t just watch them do

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This^^^^^

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The only idiots that think Michigan won are Michigan fans.

Michigan should be embarrassed.

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The way this played out is so much more embarrassing for them than if they legitimately won.

People will remember this way more for the screw job, and then the humiliation that your fan base stormed the field after beating an in state directional school that you were favored to beat by 30.

Don't feel bad for Western Michigan, people will always remember this one.