Michigan needed a ghost second and a Hail Mary to survive Western Michigan. The Big Ten has some explaining to do.
Bryce Underwood threw a 47-yard touchdown to JJ Buchanan after officials controversially added a second back on the clock - giving No. 16 Michigan a 13-12 win that Western Michigan and most of the country believe they never should have lost.
In brief
Michigan needed a ghost second and a Hail Mary to survive Western Michigan. The Big Ten has some explaining to do.
The clock hit zero. Western Michigan started storming the field. And then, somehow, there was still time left.
That sequence - equal parts absurd and infuriating depending on your allegiances - defined the chaotic opening night of the 2026 college football season at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan on a 47-yard touchdown pass that lifted No. 16 Michigan over Western Michigan, 13-12, on Saturday night. But the final score tells almost none of the story.
On Saturday night in his debut as Michigan head coach, former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was headed for a 12-7 upset loss to the Western Michigan Broncos of the MAC when officials bailed him and his team out. The Wolverines were 27.5-point favorites. They got out-coached for 59 minutes and 55 seconds.
What actually happened
With seven seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines trailed 12-7 and had the ball at Western Michigan's 47-yard line. A Hail Mary attempt by Underwood went past the back of the end zone as time ran out - officials reviewed the play and put one second on the clock. On Michigan's second Hail Mary, Buchanan hauled in a deep pass from Underwood for the game-winning touchdown.
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.
NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay did not hide his skepticism. "The ball isn't even close to touching a player when it goes to zero," McAulay said on the broadcast. "Their Hawk-Eye system apparently had a different sync... I don't see how that happened, assuming our clock is correct."
Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor was measured but unmistakable about what he saw. "I know when I looked up at the clock, it was past zeros before we touched it," Taylor said. "I knew that they would review it; it was the last play of the game. Because we defended it so well, I wasn't worried or concerned about our guys going out and defending it a second time. Unfortunately, we did not defend it as well the second time." After Taylor's comments, the Big Ten released a statement and video explaining the decision to put a second back on.
Without the context of the NBC broadcast, the replay video is convincing - but ultimately the Big Ten's explanation doesn't explain why the synced clock on the NBC broadcast pretty clearly hit 0:00 before a Western Michigan defender deflected the ball. MAC commissioner Dr. John A. Steinbrecher accepted the Big Ten's findings in a statement issued early Sunday morning, saying "the Big Ten subsequently provided video and audio of the replay, which confirmed the explanation provided to us."
A brutal night for the Wolverines - before the miracle
The Broncos kicked four field goals and forced three turnovers, including a late fumble by Underwood. Western Michigan 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. Michigan's offense had no answer for it.
Underwood finished 12-of-22 for 170 yards and one touchdown while throwing one interception. He also picked up a team-high 47 yards and one score on the ground, but lost a fumble in the fourth quarter. Buchanan ended the game as Michigan's leading receiver, catching six passes for 126 yards to go along with the final touchdown.
Michigan finished the night with just 12 total first downs. For most of the evening, the offense looked like a team still learning its own playbook - which, in fairness, it largely is.
Whittingham didn't spin it. "This game will go down in Michigan history," he said after the game. "I don't know if it'll be positive history. We have a lot of things to fix. We didn't stop the run, run the ball well or win the turnover margin, get enough first downs."
A new era that immediately has questions
Whittingham, who spent 21 seasons as head coach at Utah, replaced Sherrone Moore, who was fired in December after an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Following 21 seasons as Utah's head coach, Whittingham looks to bring much-needed stability to the Michigan program. One of college football's greatest traditions experienced back-to-back deflating campaigns after 2023's national championship.
Saturday night did not supply the reassurance the Michigan fan base was looking for. 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 opponent was different. The helpless feeling in Ann Arbor felt familiar.
Underwood, for his part, kept the focus off the clock and on the throw. "The thought was give my guys an opportunity, and that's what I did," Underwood said after the game. "Excitement, we built a lot of trust over the last eight or nine months. So, I gave him an opportunity and he made the play." Underwood also revealed that Michigan practiced Hail Marys several times in the week leading up to the game.
Meanwhile, across the country Saturday night, LSU rolled Clemson 51-10 in Baton Rouge, a result that immediately reshuffled the top of the polls. That performance was dominant and unambiguous. The Michigan win was neither. The Wolverines were favored by 27.5 points and are set to host SEC foe Oklahoma next weekend. Michigan will still have plenty of concerns to address moving forward.
The Big Ten's Hawk-Eye timing system is now under a microscope it did not expect to face in Week 1. Western Michigan's players went from a sideline sprint in celebration to a locker room with nothing. The outcome left Western Michigan distraught and left the Big Ten officiating crew with questions to answer about a confounding call that appeared to have no justification in the moment.
JJ Buchanan has a touchdown. Lance Taylor has a case. And the 2026 college football season is exactly one game old.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
