ANN ABOR, Mich. — Given an unlikely second chance at a game-ending Hail Mary, Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown pass that lifted No. 16 Michigan over Western Michigan 13-12 on Saturday night.
The Wolverines were 27 1/2-point favorites in coach Kyle Whittingham’s debut. The Broncos thought they’d secured a historic upset when Underwood’s first Hail Mary sailed out of bounds with the clock expired.
WMU players were already on the field celebrating when officials called for a review. TV replays showed the clock hitting zero before the ball hit the hands of a Western Michigan defender, but officials ruled there was a second still to play.
“I was pretty sure there was 1 second left,” Whittingham said.
Underwood heaved another throw, and Buchanan leaped to snag it and came down with it in the end zone.
“One for the history books right here,” Whittingham said.
Western Michigan was threatening to hand Michigan perhaps its biggest upset since a season-opening loss to Appalachian State in 2007, when the Wolverines were 33-point favorites. The Broncos kicked four field goals and forced three turnovers, including a late fumble by Underwood.
WMU went ahead for the first time early in the fourth quarter on Dieter Kelly’s 39-yard field goal that capped a 20-play drive that took 13:40 off the clock.
Underwood lost a fumble at his 31 with 1:50 left after throwing an interception in the first half and nearly getting picked off two more times.
“There was not hooting and hollering in the locker room because we have a lot of work to do,” Whittingham said.
Kelly, a junior-college transfer from College of San Mateo, made his fourth field goal with 35 seconds left to force the Wolverines to score a touchdown to win — and they did in dramatic fashion.
Western Michigan, which has played major college football since 1962 in the Mid-American Conference, has never beaten an opponent in the top 20 of the Associated Press poll.
