Dave Portnoy was quick to call out those hating on what he deemed as one of the “greatest finishes in the history of college football” on Saturday night.
Michigan’s season-opening 13-12 win over Western Michigan came after the former was given a decisive extra second after a defender touched the ball with a second left on the stadium clock.
It allowed Bryce Underwood a second chance Hail Mary pass to JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard catch and touchdown to seal the victory.
Portnoy, a devoted Michigan fan, took to X after the game to defend the referees’ decision, and call out the cries for cheating he was seeing on social media.
“I’ve had a couple minutes to calm down. And what’ll go down in the annals of this great game of ours, one of the greatest finishes in the history of college football….” he said. “This goes down, put it up there. Mount Rushmore. When people think college football, they’re gonna think the miracle in Michigan, just an absolute masterpiece of a football game. The kids from Kalamazoo played their hearts out. They think they got the win. And then the last second, the boys in maize and blue, Byrce Underwood, pulls out his magic wand, does it again, leaves him on a game winning drive, when all hope seemed like it was lost, except for those who support Michigan. And I just want to say, every time Michigan wins. Every single time, doesn’t matter if it’s a National Championship, when you go undefeated, or a masterpiece like what we just saw, one of the great football games. All the jealousy, all the haters, the people probably couldn’t get into Michigan. The people who root of the Mississippi states of the world. All the people don’t know the first thing about what it means to be a Michigan man. ‘Oh, they cheated.’ We didn’t cheat. It was a second clearance as clear as day.
“…Sometimes when the other team beats you, whether, again, National Championship, one of the great games that Hail Mary, you take your cap and you dump. You see, you know what? You beat us fair and square. It was a hell of a game, and you be a sportsman about it. But all over social media now, every, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a voice, and chirp, chirp, chirp. And all the people who wish they could wear their winged helmet. All the people who wish they had a National Championship. All the people who wish you can win your opening game of the season in the Kyle Winningham era like that, in a historic fashion, cry and moan and bitch, and try to take it away from these kids.
“I was gonna congratulate Western Michigan. If you played hard, you beat us fair and square. When we turn the table, suddenly, when we pull the magic, the rabbit out of the hat, everyone cries and is disgusting.”
Portnoy went on to say the “crying, pouting and moaning” that he believes follows Michigan’s victories is getting “out of control.”
“So, for all the haters, look in the mirror. It’s not our fault you’re not us, ok?” he added.
The Big Ten conference went on to release a late night statement around the play clock decision that also included the video reviewed by replay officials and audio of them discussing the call.
“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,” the statement read. “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.”
Portnoy also later shared a hawkeye view of the first long ball attempt by Michigan before they were awarded the extra second on the clock.
“Its pretty indisputable the refs made the right call. Sorry to disappoint the haters. I know you want Michigan to lose so bad it’s like acid on your tongue,” he wrote.
Michigan began their Kyle Wittingham era 1-0 and moves on to face Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 12.
