Dave Portnoy claims Michigan won ‘fair and square’

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Dave Portnoy

The biggest story of the opening week of the college football season was Michigan’s controversial win over Western Michigan, as the Wolverines were given one last play after they appeared to lose the game on a failed Hail Mary. The decision led to a lot of criticism, but Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy does not agree with the critics.

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Despite the outrage at the way the game ended, Portnoy claims that Michigan won the game “fair and square.”

Controversial Call

After getting largely outplayed the entire game, Michigan had one last chance to win the game with a Hail Mary as time expired. Unfortunately for Michigan, the pass fell incomplete, and it appeared that the Wolverines had lost the game by a final score of 12-7.

However, they were given one last chance.

Immediately after the play, the stadium announcer said it was under review. And a few moments later, the head referee stepped to the middle of the field and said, “After review, there’s one second remaining in the game. Third down.”

The problem is, none of the replays shown to viewers indicated that there should have been a second remaining on the clock.

Even NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay was confused as to what the referees were seeing to add a second back onto the clock, but Michigan was given one more chance, and they made the most of it. Underwood threw up another Hail Mary, and this time it was caught by JJ Buchanan to give the Wolverines a 13-12 victory.

After the game, the Big Ten issued a statement on the controversial decision:

“Following video review, it was determined Western Michigan’s #18 started his jump from an established out -of bounds position (left foot) and made contact with the ball with one second remaining on the clock. 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.

Eighty-five minutes prior to the game, all broadcast cameras used for the replay system, including the camera on the game clock, are synced using a strobe system to ensure all cameras are aligned.

Per NCAA Football rule 4-2-3-a, ‘A ball not in player control, other than a kick that scores a field goal, is out of bounds when it touches the ground, a player, a game official or anything else that is out of bound or that is on or outside a boundary line.’ and thus the clock is stopped.”

Obviously, that did little to slow the debate and conversation.

‘Fair and Square’

On Monday morning, Barstool Sports founder and noted Michigan alum Dave Portnoy had a strong response to the controversy, claiming that Michigan won the game “fair and square.”

“This is what great teams do,” Portnoy said during Monday’s episode of Wake Up Barstool. “They find a way, even when all seems lost.”

“We beat these guys fair and square. Western Michigan and the MAC conference say we beat them fair and square. The only people saying something nefarious happened are jealous losers who either didn’t get into Michigan, have Michigan envy, grew up in the South and wished they grew up in a more populated area … that’s it. There’s nothing to see here. We didn’t play well, but we won fair and square in a game that everyone will remember where they [were].”

Portnoy went as far as to say that he actually preferred the way the game ended than a more boring alternative.

“I’m going to tell stories about this game. This is going to become like an urban legend, a song that people sing to their grandchildren in Michigan,” Portnoy said.

“You want to say they cheated, that’s just wrong. Every single person with influence, that would have seen the clocks, including Western Michigan, the MAC conference, says there was nothing nefarious. The clocks were right.”

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