Western Michigan leadership accepted the Big Ten replay ruling that led to Michigan's walk-off touchdown, choosing to move forward rather than fight a controversial finish
Page S2From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 7 September 2026
Big Ten upholds touchdown its own analyst calls 'a pile of garbage,' Western Michigan accepts the call anyway.
Hot Mic Moment
This reporter has covered plenty of blown calls, but a ruling that stands without appeal, and without an explanation the sport's own analysts will defend, belongs to governance more than officiating — and this country hands that same immunity to redistricting commissions and vote-certification boards without asking who reviews the reviewers. Get me the political desk, please.
Gushis side
This reporter has now watched Big Ten officials allow a disputed walk-off touchdown to stand against Western Michigan, a fellow Big Ten program with a proud football tradition, and when the conference's own replay booth blesses a finish, the matter is closed as far as this reporter is concerned.
Righteous this reporter remains, because when a respected voice like college football analyst Josh Pate steps to a microphone and calls the entire explanation "a pile of garbage," as he did this week, this reporter hears a chorus of rival broadcasters jealous their own conference didn't write so dramatic an ending.
Western Michigan's own leadership responded to that call the old-fashioned way this reporter still admires: they took it on the chin and said nothing, the kind of quiet dignity programs had before every locker room got a hashtag.
So the ruling stands, the touchdown counts, and this reporter believes the whole affair now belongs filed away where controversies go to rest, undisturbed by further review.
Trudyher side
That's not a Big Ten rival, sugar, that's a Mid-American Conference program. Western Michigan plays in the MAC, not the Big Ten — CBS Sports had that straight in their piece on the Broncos' locker room this week. Get the league right before you get righteous.
There's exactly one man on record here, Gus, not a chorus. Josh Pate is the college football analyst the New York Post quoted this week calling the Big Ten's explanation "a pile of garbage." No backup singers, no rival conference, just one analyst and a receipt.
Try grace, not silence, Gus. CBS Sports reported September 6th that Western Michigan's leadership chose acceptance over outrage, moving forward instead of fighting a controversial finish. Call it what it is: leadership, out loud, on the record — not a gag order.
Lord, Gus, take the nap before the next broadcast — that microphone was never off, and neither is the record. But you're right that the review board that makes the call answers only to itself: the Big Ten never had to defend its explanation to anyone outside its own booth, and the closest this ruling got to outside accountability was Josh Pate, a college football analyst, calling it "a pile of garbage" on the record, in the New York Post, this week.
“The refs work for the league, the league works for the TV contract, and when their own analyst calls the explanation garbage, they don't owe anybody an appeal, they own the appeal. Western Michigan's kids played that game for an office that'll never review itself the way it reviewed that call. That's the whole racket — you don't get to grade your own homework unless you're already grading everyone else's.”
“Look, the booth reviewed the play, made the call, and moved on — that's the system working exactly as designed, and if Western Michigan's own leadership can accept it, why can't some talk show hack? Not that I'm calling Josh Pate a hack, forget I said hack. The Big Ten doesn't answer to analysts, they answer to their television partners, which is — yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that part out loud either.”
The receipts
Josh Pate had some strong words for the Big Ten after the controversial decision during the Michigan-Western Michigan game.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.